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In the week since former president Donald Trump<\/strong> was hit with his third criminal indictment<\/a>, which charges him in connection with his attempt to overturn the 2020 election, his lawyers haven\u2019t been shy about broadcasting his legal strategy. Apparently, Trump\u2019s defense hinges on cooperation from former Vice President Mike Pence<\/strong>. In a Sunday interview with ABC\u2019s The Week<\/em>, Trump lawyer John Lauro<\/strong> made the bizarre claim<\/a> that Pence, whom Capitol rioters vowed to hang on January 6, will \u201cbe one of our best witnesses\u201d when Trump goes to trial.<\/p>\n Lauro, who was brought onto the former president\u2019s defense team last month, added that he\u2019d read Pence\u2019s recent memoir,<\/a> So Help Me God<\/em>, \u201cvery carefully,\u201d and if Pence \u201ctestifies consistent with his book, then President Trump will be acquitted.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI cannot wait until I have the opportunity to cross-examine Mr. Pence, because what he will do is completely eliminate any doubt that Mr. Trump\u2014President Trump\u2014firmly believed that the election irregularities had led to inappropriate results,\u201d Lauro said.<\/p>\n The question of whether Trump truly believed the election was stolen is likely to become a major theme of the trial. Responding to Lauro\u2019s claims, former U.S. Attorney Gene Rossi<\/strong> told<\/a> Newsweek<\/em> Sunday that Pence would likely be a devastating witness for Trump on that subject. “The conversations that Pence had with Trump show a guilty mind. When the president says, ‘You are too honest,’ that is code for ‘I know I am asking you to do something illegal,'” he said.<\/p>\n The conversation Rossi was referring to, which is contained in special counsel Jack Smith<\/strong>\u2019s 45-page indictment<\/a>, was a January 1, 2021 phone call in which Pence allegedly told Trump he felt he did not have constitutional authority to reject or return electoral votes to the states on January 6. In response, according to the document, Trump said, \u201cYou\u2019re too honest.\u201d<\/p>\n For his part, the former vice president responded to Trump\u2019s latest indictment by tweeting<\/a> that \u201canyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be president of the United States.” On Wednesday, Pence further criticized<\/a> the former president for surrounding himself after the 2020 election with \u201ccrackpot lawyers\u201d who said only what his \u201citching ears\u201d wanted to hear.<\/p>\n Lauro\u2019s ABC appearance was just one of multiple interviews he gave Sunday in which he seemed to outline the former president\u2019s legal strategy. In an interview with NBC\u2019s Meet the Press<\/em>, Lauro admitted<\/a> that Trump may have committed a \u201ctechnical violation of the Constitution,\u201d but argued that his actions were not a violation of criminal law. Later on the show, Maryland Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin<\/strong>, a member of the January 6 Committee, called Lauro\u2019s comments \u201cderanged.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFirst of all, a technical violation of the Constitution is a violation of the Constitution. The Constitution in six different places opposes insurrection,\u201d he said, adding that Trump \u201cconspired to defraud the American people out of our right to an honest election by substituting the real legal process we have under federal and state law with counterfeit electors.\u201d<\/p>\n And still, Trump\u2019s defense insisted: in a third Sunday interview, this one with CNN\u2019s Dana Bash<\/strong>, Lauro outlined<\/a> how Trump\u2019s free speech defense is likely to unfold. Attempting to draw a distinction between \u201casking\u201d and \u201cdirecting,\u201d Lauro argued that Trump pressuring Pence to block the election certification was done in an \u201caspirational\u201d way.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat President Trump did not do is direct Vice President Pence to do anything,\u201d Lauro argued. \u201cHe asked him in an aspirational way. Asking is covered by the First Amendment.\u201d Later in the interview, Lauro argued that the \u201ctransition of power\u201d from Trump to President Joe Biden<\/strong> \u201cwas certainly peaceful.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDid you see what happened on January 6?\u201d an awestruck Bash responded.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n