An attorney on CBS News predicted Thursday that the case against former President Donald Trump “dies in front of a jury” once former Attorney General William Barr is cross-examined.
Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges during his Thursday arraignment after Special Counsel Jack Smith secured a four-count indictment of Trump relating to his efforts to contest the results of the 2020 election. Smith previously secured a 37-count indictment against Trump in June based on an investigation into allegations surrounding classified documents. (RELATED: Lawyer Says ‘Political Speech’ Is Being ‘Criminally Prosecuted’ At ‘Highest Levels’ In Wake Of Trump Indictment)
“He is going to be cross- examined… How many man-hours were expended on that? How many witnesses did you interview?” Tim Parlatore, a former attorney for Trump, told the panel on the CBSN streaming platform. “Did you send anybody to look at the machines? What did you do to actually verify any of these claims? Did you even sit with Mr. Giuliani to see what he was telling the president that you needed to go and verify? The answer to those questions, when it comes to Bill Barr, is going to be no to every single one of them.”
WATCH:
Barr defended Smith’s indictment Wednesday night during a CNN interview, claiming that it was “not an abuse”
“I may have exercised discretion and not gone forward with the case,” Barr told CNN host Kaitlan Collins, a former Daily Caller White House correspondent. “I’m also concerned about having this case going on during the election and diverting people’s attention from the issues in the election. I’m also worried about what the impact is if there are acquittals during the campaign. But as a legal matter, I don’t see a problem with the indictment. I think it’s not an abuse.”
Legal experts noted that much of the conduct Smith claimed was criminal in the indictment appeared to be protected by the First Amendment. Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz said that the indictment not only attacked the First Amendment, but also Trump’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel.
“If you cannot show the people that are telling him there was no fraud had actually done an investigation, had actually done the work and could back it up by anything other than ‘No, we would investigate because we don’t think there is fraud,’ then, when it comes to a jury who has to find beyond a reasonable doubt that he knew? That’s going to totally die. It looks great in an indictment, but it dies in front of a jury,” Parlatore said.
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