A heated battle over whether a Trump attorney can be forced to testify is now in the hands of an appeals court.”
“A U.S. appeals court is expected to rule shortly on whether Trump attorney Evan Corcoran can appear before a grand jury in Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago classified documents case.”
“The move comes after a dizzying saga overnight, in which the U.S. Department of Justice and attorneys for Trump filed dueling motions over Corcoran’s testimony. At the heart of the battling motions is a Friday ruling in which a federal judge reportedly sided with the DOJ, finding that Corcoran could be compelled to testify because prosecutors had sufficient evidence Trump may have used one of his defense attorneys in an alleged bid to mislead investigators.”
AN EXPLANATION:
- Evan Corcoran was one of Trump’s attorneys who prepared the letter to DOJ claiming that Trump did not have any classified documents.
- Now it seems as though DOJ has either messages between/among Trump and his attorneys, including Corcoran — emails, texts, phone calls, conversations.
- DOJ has demanded copies of these communications, Corcoran says they are protected by attorney-client privilege; DOJ argues there is no such privilege when the communication is in furtherance of a crime (possession of stolen classified documents).
- The Court has told Corcoran to answer by midnight, March 21, and DOJ to respond to Corcoran within six hours (by 6:00 AM, March 22).
This might be a few things, all of which are speculation:
1) There is some imminent threat to National security at issue.
2) There could be concern about interfering with an active grand jury.
3) The court is all done being used for delays
4) A combination of things.
It’s all under seal, so there’s no real way to know until it’s ultimately revealed.
Whatever it is, the court deemed it important enough to go at lightspeed in handling the complaint.