Special Counsel Jack Smith is targeting Trump’s lawyer in arguments Thursday before a federal judge in the investigation into classified documents stored at Mar-a-Lago.
Jack Smith is expected to ask Chief Judge Beryl Howell of DC, an Obama appointee, to reject Trump’s claims of attorney-client privilege.
The Special Counsel is seeking more testimony from Trump’s former lawyer Eric Corcoran because they don’t have a case.
The Wall Street Journal reported:
A federal judge is set to hear arguments Thursday over special counsel Jack Smith’s push to extract more grand-jury testimony from a lawyer for Donald Trump, according to people familiar with the escalating investigation into the handling of classified documents at the former president’s South Florida estate.
In a closed-door court proceeding, Mr. Smith’s team is expected to urge Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the District Court for the District of Columbia to reject attorney-client privilege claims that Evan Corcoran, a lawyer for Mr. Trump, raised on behalf of the former president during a January grand-jury appearance. Following that appearance, prosecutors asked Judge Howell to invoke the so-called crime-fraud exception to bypass the privilege claims and compel Mr. Corcoran to provide more testimony, the people said.
That exception applies in instances where there is reason to believe that legal advice has been used in furtherance of a crime. The move to invoke it suggests that Mr. Smith’s team suspects Mr. Trump or his allies used Mr. Corcoran’s services in such a way.
Special Counsel Jack Smith has issued a flurry of subpoenas as he ramps up his harassment campaign against Trump and his inner circle.
The special counsel investigation was supposed to focus on whether Trump broke the law when he took White House records to Mar-a-Lago and the other part of the probe is related to January 6.
However, Jack Smith has now expanded his investigation and is looking into Trump’s efforts to fight the massive 2020 election fraud operation in key swing states.
