On Thursday's edition of MSNBC's "The Beat," anchor Ari Melber issued a stark warning to the attorneys representing former President Donald Trump that they could be in legal jeopardy themselves.
Trump has already left a trail of problems in his wake for lawyers who represented him, from Michael Cohen, who went to prison for tax fraud over a hush payment he organized for the former president, to Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, who have faced professional sanctions for false claims and illegal advice. And similar problems could befall the lawyers representing Trump in the national security case surrounding classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, said Melber.
"There's still more than one open criminal probe involving former President Trump," said Melber. "We turn to a twist in one of them, new video, which basically shows three Trump lawyers doing what lawyers never want to have to do, which is go into the federal courthouse, not to litigate, which is why they usually go to court, but because they're caught up at witnesses to potentially some kind of wrongdoing. This is a secret hearing that involves DOJ lawyers and the Trump lawyers."
"Now, it is reported that it's about stolen documents. The Mar-a-Lago case, according to CNN," said Melber. "Also what's notable is that legal team typically would appear in New York, or Florida. I'm only telling you what we're gleaning but it sounds like a more high-level meeting. Prosecutors want testimony to figure out what Trump claims is declassified and whether anyone has been lying to the government about that."
Even so, said Melber, these lawyers are in dangerous territory.
"As I've told you before, you can go on TV and lie all you want," said Melber. "We've heard Trump aides say, he declassified it all. Abracadabra. They are lying. But if they say that in public, so be it. You start saying it in court or to prosecutors or the FBI or the National Archive — you can see the list is getting long — you might be committing a crime. And if you are a lawyer, you are not immune from being held accountable for crimes."
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