Former President Donald Trump's defense attorney Todd Blanche went on Fox News on Thursday evening to explain that he and the former president "made every decision" in his defense together for Trump's election interference trial.
Blanche's remarks came after Trump became the first former president to be convicted of felony crimes. The jury found him guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels to illegally influence the 2016 election
Asked by Fox News personality Jesse Watters to explain "how involved Trump was in his own defense," Blanche replied:
"Very involved. He's a smart guy. He knows what he's doing. He jokingly said to us a lot that he wanted to be the litigator, he wanted to be the one arguing because he's a smart guy. He knows what he's doing."
"We made every decision together and there were things he was frustrated with. The judge several months ago... we wanted to be able to argue rely on counsel, that to some extent President Trump was relying on his lawyer, and the judge wouldn't allow us to do that."
"Things like that really push us. Why can't we do this? Why can't we do that? It was an honor to be with him the last six weeks with him, defending him."
You can hear what Blanche said in the video below.
It was quite the statement from Trump's own lawyer—and people were quick to point out just how unsurprising it was that such a bad—and failed—defense had Trump's own fingerprints all over it.
Blanche also said that Trump will appeal the verdict on the grounds that Judge Juan Merchan did not recuse himself.
Blanche noted that he had filed two separate motions requesting Judge Merchan to recuse himself from the trial. "It’s not fair," he said, stressing the importance of impartiality in the judicial process.
He said Trump is “a husband, a father, a grandfather and a friend to a lot of people," calling the situation "heartbreaking."
But by all accounts, the trial was run fairly by the judge with 12 everyday New Yorkers, even including one who admitted to getting his news from Trump's Truth Social site, finding the former president guilty on all 34 felony counts after just a day and a half of deliberations.
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