Judge rules Trump lawyer must testify
A federal judge has ruled that prosecutors overseeing the investigation into former President Donald Trump's handling of classified documents can pierce assertions of attorney-client privilege and compel one of his lawyers to answer more questions before a grand jury, two people familiar with the case said Friday.
In making her ruling, the judge, Beryl A. Howell, found that the government had met the threshold for a special provision of the law known as the crime-fraud exception. That provision allows prosecutors to work around attorney-client privilege when they have reason to believe that legal advice or legal services have been used in furthering a crime.
The New York Times reported last month that prosecutors had asked Howell to apply the crime-fraud exception to the grand jury testimony of M. Evan Corcoran, a lawyer who has represented Trump since last spring, as the documents investigation began heating up. Corcoran in recent months appeared before the grand jury and asserted attorney-client privilege while declining to answer certain questions.
Attorney-client privilege is a bedrock legal principle designed to protect private communications between lawyers and those they represent. Howell's ruling, issued under seal, that the crimefraud exception applies in this case is important because it places the imprimatur of a federal judge on prosecutors' contention that Corcoran's legal work may have been used in the commission of a crime.
The ruling was reported earlier by CNN.
It remained unclear what crime prosecutors are asserting may have been committed — or who may have committed it. But among the subjects that the Justice Department has been examining since last year is whether Trump or his associates obstructed justice by failing to comply with repeated demands to return a trove of government material he took with him from the White House upon leaving office, including hundreds of documents with classified markings.
A statement from Trump's office attacked Howell's ruling.
“Whenever prosecutors target the attorneys, that's usually a good indication their underlying case is very weak. If they had a real case, they wouldn't need to play corrupt games with the Constitution,” the statement said.
“Every American has the right to consult with counsel and have candid discussions — this promotes adherence to the law,” the statement added. “We will fight the Department of Justice on this front and all others that jeopardize fundamental American rights and values.”