Trump's Lawyers Indicted with Him Argue They Were Doing Their Job. Is this a Guilty Plea?
Channel: THE NEWS TODAY
Date: 2023-09-07

Last week, John Eastman and Rudy Giuliani faced indictment related to their roles in attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election. They argue that they are being unfairly targeted for doing their jobs as attorneys, representing their clients, particularly former President Donald Trump. This indictment also includes more than half a dozen lawyers among the 18 defendants. Eastman and Giuliani's statements hint at their defense strategy: claiming they were simply acting as attorneys while working to challenge the election results.

This defense, known as the "lawyers being lawyers" argument, aims to turn the prosecution into a discussion about the ethical boundaries of legal practice. However, experts suggest that this defense may be challenging to execute, especially if prosecutors can directly link these lawyers to the alleged criminal activities outlined in the indictment. These activities involve efforts to create fake electors in Georgia and other states to falsely assert that Trump, rather than Democrat Joe Biden, had won the respective contests.

Barry Richard, who represented George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential election dispute, highlights that lawyers must follow strict rules of propriety and cannot engage in certain activities on behalf of their clients. The question arises: how far can lawyers go in advancing legal theories, even if they are not well-supported, to achieve a client's desired outcome?

Stephen Saltzburg, a law professor at George Washington University and former Justice Department official, explains that "bad lawyering" or pushing the boundaries of advocacy is not inherently illegal. The key issue is when lawyers cross the line by suggesting that their actions are acceptable, even when advocating for legally unsupported theories. This boundary can be ambiguous.

Attorneys are expected to zealously represent their clients, but there are limits. For example, Eastman privately acknowledged that he expected the Supreme Court to unanimously dismiss the idea that then-Vice President Mike Pence could reject electoral votes.

Election-related lawsuits are not uncommon, with the famous 2000 Florida battle between Al Gore and the Bush campaign as an example. Justice Department counsel Jack Smith argues that candidates have the right to challenge ballots, procedures, and contest election results through legal means. However, the Georgia indictment claims that these lawyers went beyond typical legal advocacy and engaged in criminal activities. For instance, it alleges that former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark drafted a memo falsely claiming fraud to impact the election outcome in Georgia. It also accuses Sidney Powell of plotting to illegally access voting equipment in Georgia to support voter fraud claims. The indictment further implicates lawyers Kenneth Chesebro, Giuliani, and Eastman in discussions about enlisting fake electors in battleground states won by Biden. Chesebro's lawyer claims that the allegations are related to his work as an attorney, while Powell's lawyers declined to comment.

The distinction lies in whether lawyers recommend a course of action to the client that they may or may not follow versus lawyers taking actions themselves. The latter gives lawyers less freedom to bend legal principles. This indictment adds to a pattern of Trump's lawyers getting involved in his legal troubles, such as Michael Cohen's guilty plea in 2018 for arranging hush money payments at Trump's direction.

Some of Trump's lawyers have testified before a federal grand jury investigating his handling of classified documents, which contributed to an indictment against Trump filed in June. In contrast to the 2000 election dispute, Richard argues that there is no fair comparison between legitimate court challenges and the alleged misconduct two decades later. The former involved legal battles, while the latter has created ongoing controversies about the election's legitimacy. However, he believes that the nation will eventually move on and recognize the elected president.