A significant amount of the indictment against former President Donald Trump is based on attorney-client communications which are protected under U.S. law and will likely lead to a long and drawn-out legal battle in the months ahead, according to legal experts.
Trump has been charged with 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information; one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, one count of withholding a document or record, one count of scheme to conceal, one count of corruptly concealing a document or record, one count of concealing a document in a federal investigation, and one count of false statements and representations.
The indictment marks the first time in history that the Department of Justice has charged a former president with a crime and will likely have serious implications for the 2024 presidential race, in which Trump is a leading candidate.
The former president has vowed to remain in the race regardless of the outcome of the trial. He pleaded not guilty in a federal court in Miami on June 13 and has called the case against him “political persecution.”
Speaking with EpochTV’s “Crossroads” program on June 13, former federal prosecutor Will Scharf told host Joshua Philipp that it appears as though the DOJ has essentially “gotten into the middle” of the attorney-client privilege between Trump and his lawyer, Evan Corcoran, which Scharf described as “one of the core privileges guaranteed in our legal system.”
The attorney-client privilege protects the confidentiality of communications between individuals and their lawyers, meaning the latter may not disclose either oral or written communications with their clients to anyone unless granted permission by the client to do so.
However, Corcoran was forced to testify in the case against Trump and hand over records, including private correspondence, earlier this year after DOJ-appointed Special Counsel Jack Smith was able to obtain a “crime-fraud exception,” effectively piercing the attorney-client privilege.
By Katabella Roberts and Joshua Philipp
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