John Lauro, one of former President Donald Trump’s lawyers, went on five Sunday talk shows to present a counternarrative to a federal indictment that accuses Trump of engaging in a criminal conspiracy to remain in office despite losing to Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
Former President Donald Trump and one of his attorneys have invoked a First Amendment defense in response to the federal indictment charging Trump with trying to “subvert the legitimate election results.” But legal experts note Trump’s speech isn’t constitutionally protected if he engaged in a criminal conspiracy, as the indictment alleges.
In an interview hours after former President Donald Trump was indicted for an alleged conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election, one of his attorneys said that all Trump had ultimately asked his vice president to do was “simply pause” the Electoral College count at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Former Vice President Mike Pence called that claim “completely false.”
The federal indictment against former President Donald Trump, concerning his efforts to remain in office despite losing the election, details actions Trump and his co-conspirators allegedly took to get state officials to change legitimate electoral votes. The indictment says the pressure campaign involved knowingly making false claims of voter fraud — many of which we’ve written about before.
On Aug. 1, the Department of Justice filed an indictment against former President Donald Trump concerning his attempts to remain in power despite losing the 2020 presidential election — efforts that culminated in obstructing the counting of electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021, the indictment charges.