‘It’s the Whole Case!’ Lawrence O’Donnell Blown Away When Trump Lawyer Appears to Admit to ‘Stunning’ Fact

MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell and Andrew Weissmann were in awe of what the latter called a “rookie mistake” by a lawyer for former President Donald Trump.

Hours earlier, Trump was arraigned in federal court in Washington, D.C. thanks to his attempt to remain in power despite losing the 2020 election, which he falsely claimed was rigged against him. He was indicted on four counts: conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights. Trump pleaded not guilty.

At the time, Trump urged Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to certify the results of the election as he presided over certification in Congress on Jan. 6, 2021. The then-president was operating under the theory that Pence could return the matter to the states, where Republican-controlled legislatures in states he lost could elevate pro-Trump slates of electors as the valid electors. Meanwhile, Trump personally lobbied several public officials to overturn the results in their states.

John Lauro, who is representing the former president in the case, appeared on Thursday’s edition of The Ingraham Angle on Fox News and Greg Kelly Reports on Newsmax. In each instance, he offered the same “defense” to the hosts.

On The Last Word, Lawrence O’Donnell aired a clip of Lauro’s appearance on Fox News.

“What President Trump said is, ‘Let’s go with option D,'” Lauro told Laura Ingraham. “Let’s just halt, let’s just pause the voting and allow the state legislatures to take one last look and make a determination as to whether or not the elections were handled fairly. That’s constitutional law. That’s not an issue of criminal activity.”

O’Donnell was beside himself.

“That is a Trump criminal defense lawyer quoting Donald Trump committing a crime,” O’Donnell said. “Donald Trump’s criminal defense lawyer tonight added information to [Special Counsel] Jack Smith’s 42-page description of Donald Trump’s crimes. The conversation that John Lauro just described appears on page 34 of the indictment against his client.”

Later in the show, the host asked Weissmann for his reaction.

“To the point that we learned from John Lauro tonight, he’s offering an alternative piece of dialogue to what appears in the indictment,” O’Donnell said. “He’s offering us these words from Donald Trump’s mouth.”

Weissmann offered his incredulous response:

WEISSMANN: So, I don’t why a defense lawyer is going to start giving facts about a critical moment.

O’DONNELL: It’s the whole case!

WEISSMANN: And by the way, it is such a damning thing when you put it in context because remember, what the indictment alleges is prior to that, the reason this had to be done with the vice president is because prior to that, all the efforts that Donald Trump took with respect to the secretaries of state did not work.

So, for him to say, “Oh, let’s just double check”? I mean, there’s nothing to double-check. He actually threatened criminal prosecution against the secretary of state of Georgia and he still stuck to his guns. So this sort of like, “Oh, let’s just buy some time,” it’s illegal and it’s not like there’s any real dispute. He knew that the secretaries of state had said to him, “No, there is no issue, these have been certified, there’s no legal basis to do it.” So I just don’t know why John, who is a good lawyer, didn’t just zip it and not say anything.

O’DONNELL: They don’t teach TV in law school.

WEISSMANN: One other point, which I don’t think we’ll get to this, but a defense lawyer who makes a statement on behalf of their client, that is an admission. There’s caselaw–

O’DONNELL: Ok, so this admissible in court?

WEISSMANN: You have to make a motion and say, “I am saying this was an agent of the defendant.” I mean, again, the judge would have discretion to say, “Maybe this particular statement wasn’t made for him.” But there’s a case called GAF that says when you are an agent of a defendant and you are making a statement on his or her behalf, that is admissible. So again, that is why it is fine to say, “Here are the defenses.” But to start weighing in on this, I mean, not that Donald Trump is going to testify, but if he were and he didn’t say exactly this thing, he can be cross-examined on this. So this was just a kind of rookie mistake to make. Just to be clear, John is a good lawyer. I think this was not a smart move.

O’Donnell called the moment “absolutely stunning.”

Watch above via MSNBC.

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