One of the attorneys for former President Donald Trump on Thursday called the federal indictment against him "garbage" and said his client will win in court.
Jim Trusty, a member of Trump's legal team, told CNN he had received a summons notifying him that Trump must appear in federal court in Miami Tuesday to face charges related to his handling of documents. Although Trusty said he did not yet have a copy of the indictment, multiple reports said the indictment includes seven counts.
Trump attorney Jim Trusty joins for his first interview since Trump was indicted. There is:
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) June 9, 2023
— An Espionage Act charge
— Several obstruction-based charges
— False statement charges
— Is there a conspiracy charge in here? “I believe so, I don't have it in front of me right now.” pic.twitter.com/8zOCynIygB
Trump himself told Fox News he will plead not guilty.
"I know all attorneys go on the air and say 'My client's innocent,' and then after the trial, 'We're gonna win the appeal.' Well, here he is innocent. I mean, everything about this case is absolutely rotten," Trusty told CNN.
Asked how Trump reacted to learning he would be indicted, Trusty said, "He thought about [it and] he said, 'This is just a sad day. I can't believe I've been indicted.'"
No sitting president or ex-president has ever been indicted in federal court.
Trusty said there is an Espionage Act charge, an obstruction-based charge and a false statement charge. Asked if there was a conspiracy charge, Trusty said he believed there was one, although he wasn't certain.
The indictment comes months after special counsel Jack Smith launched his investigation into Trump's handling of the documents.
"He knows he's innocent," Trusty said of Trump. "He knows this is garbage. He knows there's fundamental flaws with each one of the counts that they're apparently putting in this indictment. And he knows that the whole process starting from the archivist was a corrupt and politicized one. So he's not shrinking from the fight. He's disappointed that this is where we are as a country and this is where the Department of Justice is."
Jim Geraghty of the National Review noted that federal prosecutors are pursuing the case in Florida, which "is likely to be much friendlier territory for the former president than Manhattan or Washington, D.C."
"Are federal prosecutors way too overconfident about their ability to persuade a south Florida jury?" Geraghty asked. "Or do they have so much evidence and such a slam-dunk case that they're confident they can win a conviction, even in the jurisdiction most likely to be sympathetic to Trump?"
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Win McNamee/Staff
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
