At least 25 Trump election case witnesses withheld information based on attorney-client privilege,

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At least 25 Trump election case witnesses withheld information based on attorney-client privilege, prosecutors say


The special counsel wants a judge to make Trump's team formally say whether he'll rely upon an advice-of-counsel defense at his federal trial in March.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/25-trump-election-case-witnesses-withheld-information-attorney-client-rcna119714





Oct. 10, 2023, 11:46 AM CDT / Updated Oct. 10, 2023, 2:23 PM CDT


By Ryan J. Reilly and Daniel Barnes

WASHINGTON — Dozens of witnesses who were interviewed in the federal investigation that led to a four-count indictment against former President Donald Trump for his efforts to stop the peaceful transfer of power withheld information on the basis of assertions of attorney-client privilege, special counsel Jack Smith's office said in a court filing Tuesday.

Smith's office is asking U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to require Trump's team to disclose by December whether he plans to argue at trial that he relied on the advice of counsel after his 2020 election loss. While many lawyers in Trump's orbit have said they told him that mass election fraud claims were unfounded and that he couldn't overturn the election results, Trump chose to rely upon a fringe group of lawyers that former Attorney General William Barr referred to as a "clown car."


Since his indictment, Trump and his team have “repeatedly and publicly announced that he intends to assert the advice of counsel as a central component of his defense at trial,” Smith’s team wrote.

If Trump plans to invoke the defense, Smith's team argued, prosecutors should gain access to additional communications between him and his lawyer.

If Trump invokes attorney-client privilege, Smith's office said, he would also be required to waive "attorney-client privilege for all communications concerning that defense," and federal prosecutors would be "entitled to additional discovery and may conduct further investigation, both of which may require further litigation and briefing." ...............................

[Karadeniz]

1. Will they be slapped with contempt? I thought the attorney client privilege didn't apply to

criminal activity.