Trump lawyer John Lauro says Pence will be defense's "best witness"

we go now to John lauro one of former president Trump's lawyers he joins us now from New York John good morning to you I want to let you know that we spoke with former vice president Mike Pence and asked him specifically about your assertions made this last week that all the president did was asked him to pause the certification on January 6 2021 he told me flatly quote that's not what happened your response that's not that's not what I said though but that's okay what what is it that you believe happened between the president and the vice president and do you have any fear of the vice president being called as a witness in the case no No No in fact the vice president will be our best witness what I said is the ultimate ask of Vice President Pence was to pause the count and allow the states to weigh in that was my statement and what what I've said is consistent with what vice president Pence is saying the reason why vice president Pence will be so important to the defense is is the following number one he agrees that John Eastman who gave legal advice to president Trump was an esteemed legal scholar number two he agrees that there were election irregularities fraud unlawful actions at the state level all of that will will eviscerate any allegation of criminal intent on the part of President Trump and finally what vice president Pence believes and believed is that these issues needed to be debated on January 6th he openly called for all of these issues to be debated and objected to uh in in the January 6 proceeding president Trump on the other hand believed following the advice of John Eastman who's a legal scholar that these issues needed to be debated at the state level not the federal level now of course there was a constitutional disagreement between vice president Pence and president Trump but the bottom line is never never in our country's history has those kinds of disagreements been prosecuted criminally it's it's unheard of John can I ask you a couple of very simple basic yes or no questions is there first is there any condition under which the former president United States your client would accept a plea deal on these January 6th charges no will you seek a motion to dismiss absolutely 100 percent win 100 percent well within the time permitted this is what's called a Swiss cheese indictment it has so many holes that we're going to be identifying and litigating a number of of motions that we're going to file on First Amendment grounds on the fact that President Trump is immune as president from from being prosecuted in this way do you have a do you have a ballpark figure when you'd be ready for trial I well I can tell you that in 40 Years of practicing law on a case of this magnitude I've not known a single case to go to trial before two or three years understood are you still going to pursue a change of venue absolutely we we would like a diverse venue a diverse jury um do you have any expectation that will be granted they that reflects the the the the characteristics of the American people um it's up to the judge I think West Virginia would be an excellent venue to try this case speaking of the judge did you see in a much more diverse understood speaking of the judge earlier this week your client the former president said on his social media platform the judge is unfair on what basis did he say that well the problem with bringing a case like this in the middle of a campaign season is statements are going to be made in the context of a campaign we expect a fair and just trial in the District of Columbia and and my role my role is simply to ensure that President Trump's rights just like every American's rights are protected every step of the way and I'm going to do that you mentioned Discovery in the protective order back and forth between you and the prosecutors it says the prosecution that Discovery will be provided quote as soon as possible including certain Discovery to which the defendant is not entitled what's wrong with that we're all in favor of protecting sensitive and highly sensitive information but it's unprecedented to have all information hidden in a criminal case including by the way information that might be exculpatory and might be exonerative of President Trump the Biden Administration wants to keep that information from the American people John in the back and forth on this matter you it also said in the filing of the court that the former president would be willing to come to an agreement on this matter and what I want to ask you is would that requirement be something where the president would agree not to release any information that was highly sensitive in this matter and would he also refrained from any speech that called for or hinted at retribution about anyone associated with the prosecution of this case he's never called for that at all um he's going to abide by the conditions of his release but of course we would agree that any sensitive or highly sensitive information be kept under wraps in fact we made that proposition to the Biden Administration but they rejected it they want every single piece of evidence in this case hidden from the American public John before I let you go do you remember what you were doing the early morning of November 9th 2016. I have no idea well I remember what I was doing I was covering president-elect Trump announcing that he had won the presidency about 3 A.M that morning after the November 8th election my question to you John is how did he know he won well politicians um are convinced in the righteousness of their cause including president Trump and he certainly believed that but on what basis did he know but on what basis did you know when I finish can I finish sure can I finish and he believed in 2020 that he won based on the fact that he had 10 million more votes than in 2016 he had a situation where somehow President Biden or at that time candidate Biden received 15 million more votes than Hillary Clinton and he also understood in 2020 that president that President Trump understood that he had won all virtually all of the Bellwether counties and 84 percent of all the counties in the country John's basis let me help you with this that he was successful John let me help you with this I wasn't asking about no let me help you with this because I wasn't asking about 2020 John I wasn't asking about 2020. it was about 2016. right because because the votes were still being counted 2016. the votes were still being counted in 2016. there had been no recounts how did he know in 2016 that he had won how did he know on what basis the the issue the issue let me just tell you something the issue in this criminal case is not what happened in 2016 and whether all candidates say they won the issue now is in 2020 whether or not the justice department can weaponize criminal law to go after a political opponent and prevent that opponent from running for office that's the issue not what happened in 2016. John lauro we thank you for your time Fair do you think it's fair that do you think it's fair what the what the Biden Administration is doing to a candidate for president John Laurel we thank you for your time we appreciate it thank you

Channel: Face the Nation

Views: 197,230

Keywords: Face the Nation, CBS News, video, Margaret Brennan, U.S., politics, John Lauro, Donald Trump, Mike Pence, Jan 6

Id: BrpByEZcLPg

Length: 7min 49sec (469 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 06 2023