Former Principal Deputy Solicitor General of the United States Neal Katyal thinks Donald Trump’s all-over-the-place interview with Megyn Kelly isn’t the most “unwise strategy.”
On “The Last Word with MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell,” Katyal, who formerly worked under President Obama, pointed out that Trump’s verbal dodge and weave tactics provide him the extrajudicial defense he needs.
“I know everyone’s saying, ‘Well, Trump is reckless in giving this interview,’ and the like. I have a different view. I actually think that this is not an unwise strategy for him, because he doesn’t have a legal defense, he doesn’t have a factual defense,” Katyal said.
“The only defense he has is to try and poison the jury pool with his cockamamie nonsense and hope that he can draw a juror that’s going to say this or, as Andrew says, hope that he can just stretch this out through innuendo and so on until after the presidential election and hope that the prosecution is terminated. These aren’t legal defenses or factual defenses — they’re extrajudicial defenses.”
O’Donnell and Katyal specifically referred to Trump’s response to Kelly’s point that a subpoena demands compliance. Kelly hinted that this meant Trump should have obeyed the demands of the DOJ when he chose to try and obstruct the procurement of his stolen White House documents instead. O’Donnell then asked National Security Attorney Bradley Moss if Trump has uttered a single word of legal defense to help his case.
“No,” Moss said, holding up the hand gesture for zero. “Here’s the grand total of viable words — zero. Neal’s absolutely right. This isn’t about a legal defense at this point. It’s not about a factual defense. It’s strictly political. And he’s got to be very careful.”
Moss reiterated Katyal’s point of Trump’s attempt to “poison the jury pool,” adding that Trump’s strategy involves stalling for time until his nomination to run for president as the Republican candidate in 2024.
“He’s begging to get himself in trouble. We know the Justice Department already brought some kind of motion before Judge Chutkan, and we don’t know what the status of it is. It’s all under seal right now. But all this is, is spin,” Moss added. “He’s trying to drag it out and put himself in a situation where he’s already nominated by the time that the trial comes around and even if he’s convicted, he’ll look at the Republican party. And say you’re stuck with me and let’s go through with this.”
