The advice-of-counsel defense allows a defendant to show that there was no wrongful intent underlying his unlawful actions. The defense should demonstrate that the defendant lacked the mens rea needed to commit the offense. Non Compos Mentis may be the only thing left, considering the clear and present danger ahead. Because Previous Guy’s an idiot.
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"The dominos are starting to fall. Trump is planning to blame the attorneys, but now they’ll be prosecution witnesses pointing the finger at him," former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
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"A deal like this, with no jail time, is warranted in my view IF and only if [Chesebro] can provide ample inculpatory evidence against people who are more culpable than he," Andrew Weissman, a former assistant U.S. attorney, tweeted.
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George Washington University law professor Randall Eliason said the agreement is "very bad news for Trump," noting the allegations also relate to Jack Smith's parallel criminal case.
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"Chesebro's plea is a big deal with Fani Willis. But it may be a bigger deal for Jack Smith," former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance added,
www.salon.com/...
The DoJ reminds the court that if trump wants to use the advice of counsel defense - meaning “my lawyers said it was ok” - trump would waive ALL attorney-client privilege for all communications concerning that defense, which could lead to further discovery AND INVESTIGATION 2/
DoJ points out that AT LEAST 25 witnesses including co-conspirators, campaign employees, the campaign itself, outside attorneys, a non-attorney intermediary, and EVEN A FAMILY MEMBER - have invoked attorney-client privilege. 3/
And since exhibits are due 12/18, and if trump intends to use advice of counsel as a defense, DoJ wants to force trump to file his intent to use that defense by the date the exhibits for trial are due (because those exhibits would have to include advice of counsel exhibits) 4/
DoJ acknowledges that sometimes, courts don’t require defendants to tell everyone their defense strategy, but Jack Smith points out that trump told the world a zillion times that he intends to use this defense, so the cat’s out of the bag (oops). 5/
now
2. Jack Smith indicates he intends to prove Trump's motive for taking and retaining national defense information in the Florida case even though proving motive is not necessary. He will do this using UNCLASSIFIED evidence. 2/
3. The prevailing theories about WHY Trump took and retained the national defense information, violating the Espionage Act.
4. Judge Aileen Cannon and the October 12th conflict of interest hearings for Walt Nauta and Carlos DeOliveira. 3/
5. Jack Smith's motion (DC case) to force Trump to file his intention to use the "advice of counsel" defense, citing the need for more time to investigate all communications for the 25 witnesses that have invoked attorney-client privilege (including a family member). 4/
On Friday, Kenneth Chesebro pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to file false documents in the Fulton County 2020 election conspiracy case, becoming the second high-level Donald Trump co-defendant to become a state’s witness in two days. Chesebro received an especially lenient sentence of five years’ probation, a small financial penalty, and 100 hours of community service.
With the guilty plea and cooperation deal Georgia prosecutors struck on Thursday with Team Trump attorney Sidney Powell, Chesebro’s plea deal should be viewed as an earthquake in the case against Trump. Given Powell’s close proximity to the former president and his legal advisers at crucial times in his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, her testimony will be particularly devastating not only as to defendant Trump, but to co-defendants Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman.
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That the significant cooperation under discussion involves four of Trump’s attorneys underscores the reality that the former president’s regularly touted defense that he was relying on the good-faith guidance of his attorneys during the attempted coup was, and is, nothing more than self-serving fantasy. In the courtroom—as compared with on television or in social media—he has never had the ability to offer that defense.
In court, the advice of counsel “affirmative defense” requires a defendant to prove two things: First, that he relied in good faith on his lawyer’s advice that the conduct in question at trial was legal, and second, that he made a full disclosure of all relevant facts to the attorney before receiving that advice.
slate.com/...
Those lawyers are also set to figure prominently in a key defense Trump will apparently offer: that he was relying on “advice of counsel” in his brazen efforts to overturn the election. How could it be corrupt if the nonlawyer president was told all this was kosher by the actual lawyers?
But some key former Trump allies are stepping forward to call that into question. And the indictment also takes care to undermine this defense before it’s ever offered.
Former attorney general William P. Barr and a former top aide to former vice president Mike Pence both offered a contrasting spin on the “advice of counsel” defense Wednesday. They suggested that it wasn’t that Trump was a victim of his lawyers, but rather that he sought out lawyers who would tell him what he wanted to hear and assist in his plot.
“I think he had some crazy-ass lawyers around him, but I think there’s no doubt he sought them out,” former Pence aide Marc Short said on MSNBC.
Barr was also asked about whether the “advice of counsel” defense might work, and he built upon Short’s point.
Appearing on MSNBC's Ayman on Saturday, Matt Dowd said, "Mafia dons usually don't like people to flip."
"I think that Donald trump is like, if you think about this like Tony Soprano, he is holed up somewhere, and now many of his underlings have flipped and they are about to testify in the case... likely against him in the course of this," Dowd said. "They've already admitted to certain fact sets in this that there was enough facts and evidence -- to take a plea bargain in the course of this."
Dowd's guess, he says, is that, "when he's got former people that were lawyers, rolling up on Fani Willis' side on this, he is a nervous, nervous, nervous person, and it is a classic case, in my view, classic case, of when you do these massive conspiracy cases, to get the underlings and under bosses to roll up, it is only pointing in one direction, and that's at Donald Trump."