Trump lawyer John Lauro makes admission about Jan. 6 case

John Lauro, a lawyer for former President Trump, admitted that Trump tried to delay Congress from certifying the 2020 election on Jan. 6, effectively conceding a key portion of special counsel Jack Smith’s case.

Lauro conceded Thursday that Trump pushed then-Vice President Mike Pence to improperly delay Congress from counting the electoral votes on the bogus pretext that some states needed more time to investigate supposed claims of fraud.

“What President Trump said is: ‘Let’s go with option D,’” Lauro said on Fox News. “Let’s just halt, let’s just pause the voting and allow the state legislatures to take one last look and make a determination as to whether or not the elections were handled fairly.”

Just a couple of hours after Trump’s arraignment in a federal court, Lauro claimed Trump merely “wanted to get to the truth” by blocking Congress from certifying Biden’s win.

“He desperately wanted to get to what happened during the 2020 cycle. He did it in the courtroom. He did it in lobbying legislatures,” Lauro said. “That’s all First Amendment.”

Lauro portrayed the innocent-sounding “Option D” as a a perfectly normal way of fighting an election dispute.

In the indictment, however, Smith frames it as part of an unprecedented effort to thwart the Constitution, which does not permit any such role for state legislatures or anyone else after their presidential election results have been certified by early December.

Smith alleges that Trump and an unindicted co-conspirator identified as right-wing law professor John Eastman held a meeting with Pence at which Trump demanded that the veep “reject or send to the states Biden’s legitimate electoral votes, rather than count them.”

Smith portrays that meeting as key evidence of a plot to obstruct an official proceeding.

Legal analysts panned Lauro for confirming a portion of the prosecution’s case, noting Smith would have otherwise needed to prove that he pushed Pence to delay the certification.

Many defense lawyers refuse to discuss specifics of an alleged crime for this very reason.

“An admission, not a defense,” tweeted Andrew Weissmann, a former federal prosecutor on special counsel Robert Mueller’s team.

“Sounds like a coup,” added Joyce White Vance, a former U.S. Attorney.

Trump pleaded not guilty and was freed without bond on four counts including conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and deprivation of rights.

The indictment details an alleged multi-pronged plot Trump and his associates implemented to keep himself in office after losing the 2020 election to President Biden.

The scheme included bogus claims of voter fraud, ginning up slates of pro-Trump electors in states he actually lost and bullying Pence into delaying the certification of Biden’s win on Jan. 6.

When all those plans failed, Trump urged his supporters to “fight like hell” to keep him in power and thousands of them marched on the Capitol to physically block Congress from acting as the Constitution demands.

Trump faces an Aug. 28 hearing at which U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan will set a trial date.

Trump’s defense team hopes to delay the case as long as possible or until after the 2024 election, when Trump hopes to win back the White House

Smith has vowed to seek a “speedy trial.” He has till Aug. 10 to file papers requesting a trial date and informing the judge how long he expects it would last.