Trump ready to tell his side of story as he's arraigned in documents case, says spokesperson Alina Habba
Former President Donald Trump goes into his arraignment Tuesday with an understanding of the serious nature of the federal criminal charges filed against him, says a spokesperson for Trump, but he and his legal team are taking issue with an indictment that they say is politically motivated, lacks context and tells only one side of the story.
Trump attorney Alina Habba, now the spokesperson for the former president, told CBS News senior investigative correspondent Catherine Herridge in an interview before Trump's arraignment, that "of course" he's aware of the seriousness of the charges, but argued the special counsel's team of prosecutors is applying the "antiquated" Espionage Act "to political opponents in a way that has never been seen before."
In unsealing the indictment, special counsel Jack Smith stated that the laws apply to everyone. "We have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone. Applying those laws. Collecting facts," he said last Friday. "That's what determines the outcome of an investigation. Nothing more. Nothing less."
Habba dismissed a question about a July 2021 recording the special counsel has, in which Trump is heard admitting he was showing individuals a "highly confidential" plan that "as president I could have declassified," and "now I can't."
"What you all have, what the public has, what the left wing media has — is snippets," she said.
"You take snippets, and unfortunately now we're seeing special prosecutors do it," Habba told Herridge. "You're taking pieces of testimony from a grand jury, you piece them together, and you create the story you want."
Habba, who remains one of Trump's attorneys but is not directly involved in the criminal proceedings, declined to describe the former president's legal strategy, but said that the public would hear his side of the story.
"As the case moves forward, you will now hear his side," she said. "You will see us do discovery. You will hear us get to do depositions, that is what I'm saying. That is the context that is missing."
"An indictment is one-sided: it is the prosecutors bringing in who they want, asking the question as they want without their lawyers present, and then putting together a story for the American people, unfortunately, to see in a manner they want. So, now it's our turn."
However, Trump's former attorney general, Bill Barr, does not appear to share that assessment of the indictment.
"If even half of [the indictment] is true then he's toast," he told "Fox News Sunday." "It's a very detailed indictment, and it's very, very damning," Barr said.
Habba said she believes there are "some obvious grounds" to dismiss the case.
"I think we've seen misconduct. I think we've seen selective prosecution," she said. "We've seen a lot of things and I'm gonna let that [legal] team decide how and when they want to bring that out, but you know, of course they're gonna move to dismiss this case."