Trump shot himself in 'both feet' during 'Meet the Press' interview: former assistant US attorney

When former President Donald Trump told Kristen Welker in her debut interview leading "Meet the Press" Sunday that he "didn't respect" the attorneys telling him he lost the election, an expert says he blew up one of the most compelling defenses he had in the federal 2020 election subversion case brought by special counsel Jack Smith.

That's the view of Gene Rossi, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia who broke down Trump's crucial mistake on CNN Monday with anchor Sara Sidner.

"I want to start with what we heard from Donald Trump," said Sidner. "He says he doesn't respect the attorneys who were telling him he lost, and that it was his decision to go forward with this idea that the 2020 election was stolen. If you were prosecuting this case, how do you use those comments? And will they hurt him in his defense?"

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"Well, number one, I would use it if I were a prosecutor," said Rossi. "Number two, they do hurt him. ...When you are putting forth a reliance on counsel defense, whether it's a criminal tax case or statute that involves willfulness, and you're talking to your lawyers about whether a statute applies to you or whether your conduct is appropriate, you can rely on counsel. And that is an excellent defense in front of a jury. At least could get one juror to say not guilty."

"But what Mr. Trump did yesterday in that interview is, he didn't just shoot one foot, he shot both feet," Rossi said. "He just destroyed any argument that he could say, I relied on attorneys. What he was doing — this is what I would argue as a prosecutor – he was forum-shopping."

In other words, Rossi continued, Trump, "Was trying to find the attorney that would agree with his perverted view of the Big Lie, and you had Attorney General Barr said no fraud. You had Rosen, the acting A.G., no fraud. Donohue, the deputy Attorney General, all these brilliant guys saying there's nothing there, Mr. President. And he was looking for — I hate to say it, he was looking for the sycophant, Jeffrey Clark, who desperately wanted to be acting Attorney General in the last 10 days of the administration."

Watch the video below or at the link here.

Gene Rossi says Trump "shot himself in both feet" in Kristen Welker interview youtu.be