Trump Lawyers Reportedly Prepare for Criminal Charges Despite Believing He Won't Be Indicted

Several members of the US House January 6 Committee have urged the Department of Justice to open a criminal case against the former president, claiming to have gathered enough evidence to prove him guilty of an attempt to illegally overturn the 2020 election. Trump maintains his innocence and dismisses the committee's work as a "witch hunt".

Former US President Donald Trump’s legal team is working on various defense strategies in case its client is charged over the alleged attempt to overturn the 2020 election, The Rolling Stone has reported citing three anonymous sources and obtained communications.

The lawyers are reportedly brainstorming ways to fight any potential indictment and have even briefed the ex-POTUS already. However, according to the sources, the legal team does not think the Department of Justice will proceed with bringing the charges against Trump.

"Members of the Trump legal team are quietly preparing, in the event charges are brought. It would be career malpractice not to […] We’ve gotten to a point where if you don’t think criminal charges are at least somewhat likely, you are not serving the [former] president’s best interests," one of the sources said.

Nor does the team reportedly believe the claims of ex-White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, whose testaments to the January 6 Committee about the alleged preparations of the Trump administration for overturning the election prompted optimism in some of the panel's members for referring the criminal charges to the DOJ.

Still, Trump's lawyers continue to work on his defense despite being skeptical about Attorney General Merrick Garland bringing charges, The Rolling Stone reported. One of the sources noted, however, that the actual legal battle would require more judicial power and a remarkable lawyer to lead the team, as it would be the first time a former US president be charged over his alleged actions in office.

"You’d need to have a real heavyweight at the top [of the legal team] for something like that, but right now nobody knows who that would be," the source said.

'Fall-Guy' and First Amendment Strategies

Trump's legal team has already reportedly come up with two lines of defense for its client, The Rolling Stone reported.

One involves shifting the blame onto the former president's advisers, who might have given Trump "terrible advice" and who "should have or must have known better,” one source elaborated, calling it a push to find a "fall-guy" - or several of them.

Another line of defense is reportedly built around the First Amendment and the right of a person to petition the government over a political grievance. Trump's legal team namely hopes to use it to defeat the charges stemming from reported efforts to hire "fake electors,” the sources said.

Reported attempts to hire "fake electors" by the Republicans in the states where Joe Biden won in 2020 by a thread in order to try and declare Trump as the actual winner is just one of many "crimes" that the members of the January 6 panel accuse the former president of. The panel claims to have "evidence" and witness testimonies, including from former White House officials and staffers, that Trump deselected his duty, failed to prevent the violence that erupted on January 6 at the Capitol, even allegedly facilitating it.

The former president himself strongly rejects all the accusations, while insisting that the demands of the Capitol Hill protesters to postpone the certification of the election results were legitimate. Trump has dismissed the work of the January 6 Committee as a political "witch hunt" against him.