Mark Levin on DOJ's move to pierce Trump's attorney-client privilege: This is the unraveling of our liberties
Justice Department prosecutors asked a federal judge to compel one of Trump's lawyers to testify
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News host Mark Levin tore into special counsel Jack Smith for going after former President Trump's right to attorney-client privilege.
Justice Department prosecutors on Tuesday asked a federal judge to compel one of Trump's lawyers, M. Evan Corcoran, to answer more questions before a grand jury regarding the former president's handling of classified documents. Prosecutors cited the crime-fraud exception as a way to circumvent the attorney-client privilege.
This exception, Levin said, is used if prosecutors believe a client is seeking advice from an attorney to assist with the furtherance of a crime or fraud.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Then the communication is said not to be privileged. So the prosecution goes to a judge and says, 'look, I've got evidence here that basically this is a ruse, that, in fact, the client is using the attorney to perpetrate an ongoing crime and fraud,'" he explained on "Life Liberty & Levin."
WHO IS SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH, APPOINTED TO INVESTIGATE TRUMP?
M. Evan Corcoran, a lawyer of former U.S. President Donald Trump's White House chief strategist Steve Bannon arrives following his client's trial on contempt of Congress charges for his refusal to cooperate with the U.S. House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, at U.S. District Court in Washington, U.S., July 22, 2022. (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)
Levin argued attorney-client privilege is a fundamental right protected under the Bill of Rights and crucial to a functioning government.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He called out Smith for trying to pierce it, saying he has a "wildly broad interpretation of obstruction."
"I don't have to read tea leaves. I see what he's doing, and he wants to make an obstruction case, but he wants to violate a principle that applies to all of us when it comes to justice and lawyers," he said.
"Our civil liberties are being violated. Our Bill of Rights are being violated. If they can do this to Donald Trump or if they can drag lawyers in front of grand juries, violate the attorney-client privilege, take their iPhones and cell phones, take their testimony, take their e-mails, take their texts. Well, what's left? They're going after Rudy Giuliani. They've gone after John Eastman. They've gone after Joe diGenova. They've gone after Victoria Toensing. They've gone after now Evan Corcoran and two other lawyers related to the documents case. Have you ever seen anything like this in your life?"
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Levin added that Smith and his fellow prosecutors claim to be defending the Constitution and the security of the nation, but, instead, are "steamrolling" the Bill of Rights.
"Attorney-client privilege is crucial. The crime-fraud exception is a rare exception. It's not supposed to be regularized or routine, or we cease to have the ability to have effective representation of counsel," he explained.
GOP QUESTIONS IMPARTIALITY OF NEW TRUMP SPECIAL COUNSEL
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This image contained in a court filing by the Department of Justice on Aug. 30, 2022, and partially redacted by the source, shows a photo of documents seized during the Aug. 8 FBI search of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. Lawyers for Trump have in recent months turned over to federal investigators additional documents with classified markings as well as a laptop belonging to a Trump aide. (Department of Justice via AP)
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"Mass murderers, terrorists, what have you - attorney-client privilege is rarely pierced when it applies to them, and yet it's been pierced in a serial nature when it applies to Donald Trump and Republicans, Republican legislators, and Republican legislatures. This is just more evidence of the unraveling of our liberties," he said.