John Lauro, one of former President Trump’s defense attorneys in a case involving attempts to overturn the 2020 election, said Trump “asked” former Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election results in an “aspirational” way, giving a glimpse into possible defenses by his team.
In an interview that aired Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Lauro argued that Trump was exercising his First Amendment right by asking Pence to throw out Electoral College votes from certain states, seeking to draw a distinction between “asking” and “directing” Pence to take actions on that day.
“Asking is aspirational. Asking is not action. It’s core free speech. The press should be defending free speech,” Lauro told CNN’s Dana Bash.
“What President Trump was doing is within the reality and the realm of free speech. He’s asking his vice president, ‘What about taking this course of action?’ Ultimately, his vice president rejected all of the proposals that were made,” Lauro later added. “What President Trump did not do is direct Vice President Pence to do anything. He asked him in an aspirational way. Asking is covered by the First Amendment.”
In the latest federal indictment against Trump, which charges the former president with crimes related to his efforts to stay in power after the 2020 election, Trump’s pressure campaign on Pence to cooperate with his plan is detailed at length.
Trump, according to the indictment, on multiple occasions asked Pence to stop the counting of Electoral College votes by Congress in his capacity at the time as vice president, who oversees the process typically in a ceremonial way.
At one point, as noted in the indictment, Trump told Pence that he was “too honest” when Pence told Trump that he did not believe it was within his authority to reject the counting of votes.