Before Donald Trump even stepped into the courtroom to be arraigned for his third indictment on Thursday, his attorney Alina Habba made a startling confession while talking to reporters: The former president knew he lost the 2020 election. This admission flew in the face of Trump’s defense that he “believed” the election results were false, and therefore, his actions were protected speech.
Habba’s remarks were a pretty stunning admission, and apparently, only the beginning. That same day, another Trump attorney John Lauro seemingly confessed to another one of the former president’s crimes during an interview.
“President Trump wanted to get to the truth. He desperately wanted to get to what happened during the 2020 cycle. He did it in the courtroom. He did it in lobbying legislatures, that’s all First Amendment,” Lauro told Newsmax before making another startling admission. “And then at the end, he asked Mr. Pence to pause the voting for 10 days, allow the state legislatures to weigh in, and then they could make a determination to audit, or re-audit, or recertify. But what he didn’t do is send in the tanks.”
Lauro: At the end, he asked Mr Pence to pause the voting for 10 days, allow the state legislatures to weigh in and then they could make a determination to audit or reaudit or recertify. But what he didn’t do is, you know, send in the tanks… pic.twitter.com/lztQCYBVad
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 4, 2023
To be clear, Trump is being charged with obstructing the election certification process, and asking for a 10-day “pause” is exactly that. It was a surprising admission from Lauro, who admitted it again while talking to Fox News’ Laura Ingraham.
“What President Trump said is, ‘Let’s go with option D,’” Lauro said via Newsweek. “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.”
Just like Habba’s admission, Twitter went wild over the fact that yet another Trump attorney was on camera basically admitting to the charges against him.
You can see some of the reactions below:
So what you are saying is that your client attempted to obstruct an official proceeding, counsel? https://t.co/w5Hj3bvmlV
— Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser) August 4, 2023
He just admitted to one of the charges!! Holy shit. https://t.co/mrYQzxrjWu
— Spiro’s Ghost (@AntiToxicPeople) August 4, 2023
Right, Mr. Lauro, he didn’t “send in the tanks”… Instead, he got his suckers to bring pitchforks, guns, stun guns, pepper spray, baseball bats, and flagpoles. They did the fighting for him…as usual.
— Annette (@ganna_ganna123) August 4, 2023
There is absolutely no law creating any provision “to pause the voting for 10 days.” Trump and Eastman made it up. Such an act by itself would amount to a coup, a refusal to count votes at the appointed time and place, and in violation of the plain text of the U.S. Constitution. https://t.co/fCSTY2cSgS
— Eric Kleefeld (becoming a parody of myself) (@EricKleefeld) August 4, 2023
Uh-huh. Counselor? You just confessed on behalf of your client
https://t.co/qV1qvtntvC
— Keith Olbermann
(@KeithOlbermann) August 4, 2023
Well I don’t have a fancy law degree or anything but I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to go on TV and openly admit your client broke the law.
— DOOM IS READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL (@DOOM2020ORBUST) August 4, 2023
New
Trump “defense:” just an itty bitty coup. With blood and violence. But no tanks. https://t.co/nhcu9pz6OQ
— Andrew Weissmann (weissmann11 on Threads)
(@AWeissmann_) August 4, 2023
Yeah, he didn’t send in the tanks because *every living US Defense Secretary* stood up and put a middle finger in his face when it became clear he was thinking about doing just that. https://t.co/so0n4Jk1xn
— Bob Anderson (@rwa_) August 4, 2023
(Via Newsweek)