Former President Donald Trump's new lawyer struggled to defend his client's actions ahead of a possible indictment in Manhattan over the 2016 hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels.
Attorney Joe Tacopina, who appeared on multiple news networks this week, laid out Trump's defense for his role in the $130,000 payment by lodging a series of questionable claims.
"When individuals facing charges are public figures, I think they sometimes want to engage in damage control in the court of public opinion," former federal prosecutor Barb McQuade told Salon.
But Tacopina's appearance on MSNBC's "The Beat with Ari Melber" may have done the opposite.
Melber during the interview questioned Tacopina about why Trump lied at the time that he did not know about his then-attorney Michael Cohen's payment to Daniels. The attorney disputed that Trump lied, arguing that the former president didn't lie since the statement was not made under oath.
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"A lie to me is something material, under oath, in a proceeding," Tacopina said.
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He went on to clarify why he didn't consider Trump's statement to not be a lie.
"Here's why it's not a lie," Tacopina said. "Because it was a confidential settlement so if he acknowledged that, he would be violating the confidential settlement. Is it the truth? Of course it's not the truth. Was he supposed to tell the truth? He would be in violation of the agreement...
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