John Lauro the recent addition to former President Donald Trumps legal team told Fox News on Friday there is no reason for the former president to appear before a federal grand jury. Lauro echoed claims made by Trump and his GOP allies that the Justice Department is being politicized to target a political opponent and said that Trump merely asked for an audit in the wake of the election. The target letter cites three statutes that Trump could be charged with pertaining to deprivation of rights conspiracy to commit an offense against or defraud the United States and tampering with a witness. The Justice Department has been investigating possible violations of the law around conspiracy and obstruction of the congressional proceeding on January which is part of the witness tampering law previously reported following a Justice Department search of a Trump administration advisers home. Trump has already been indicted twice this year. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged the former. president on counts of falsifying business records in March and Smith charged Trump on counts in the classified documents. investigation last month. Trump pleaded not guilty in both cases. The only thing that President Trump asked is a pause in the counting so those seven contested states could either reaudit or recertify Lauro said of Trumps actions following his election loss. If he appears in court on Trumps behalf hell be representing the sovereign citizens of this country who deserve to hear the truth. The attorney also said he would request that cameras be allowed in the courtroom in Washington DC following any indictment of the president there. previously reported that Trumps team believed they had until Thursday to respond. The grand jury did not convene on Friday after meeting on Thursday. Trump addressed the target letter on Tuesday at a Fox News town hall in Cedar Rapids Iowa saying that Smiths probe amounts to election interference and calling it a disgrace. His campaign is already fundraising off of thetarget letter. Often a notification that a person is a target is a strong sign an indictment could follow but it is possible the recipient is not ultimately charged. Trump said he received a letter from special counsel Jack Smith informing him that hes a target of the investigation and inviting him to appear in front of the grand jury on Friday. The bottom line is that the special prosecutor which is really the Biden Justice Department are after President Trump and thats the focus Lauro told Fox. News. Ive never heard of anyone get indicted for asking for an Audit. Hes done nothing criminal. Theres no need for him to go before any grand jury right now Lauro says. He added that if he does go before a grand jury it will be because he wants to tell the truth about what happened in the election and not because he is trying to hide it from the public. He also said that he would ask for cameras to be allowed to be shown in court if he is charged with a crime. The former president has been charged with two felonies in connection with a classified documents investigation in March. The charges were later dropped by the Department of Justice and the case is now being investigated by the FBI.
Trump lawyer says there’s ‘no need’ to appear before grand jury in special counsel’s 2020 election probe.
