Thread by @SethAbramson

BREAKING NEWS: The Washington Post reports that Trump's plan is to frantically call Flynn a liar if it's found Flynn gave Mueller any incriminating evidence on Trump or his aides (which, by definition, he did). In other words, CHRISTMAS CONTINUES.

Link: washingtonpost.com/amphtml/politi…

2/ The legal analysis here is underwhelming. YES, it's common to say those who cut deals to save themselves are liars. But NO, it's not common when a witness could've asked for and gotten a pardon instead, and was the president's most trusted NatSec advisor for a year and a half.

3/ So Trump's argument will be that this man—who had *every reason* to think Trump would pardon him (given that Trump fired Comey to obstruct his prosecution and then publicly floated a pardon)—cut a deal to save himself by inventing lies about the President of the United States.

4/ In any case, defense attorneys don't develop and leak a strategy like this until they know what the supposed "lies" are. Otherwise, you risk Flynn, his allies, or Mueller leaking Flynn evidence that's *clearly corroborated* by witnesses or documents.

This is a legal blunder.

5/ I'll tell you, from years of experience, what sort of criminal defense team develops and leaks a defense strategy like this one: a team that's "flying blind" because their client hasn't divulged to them what really happened, so they're playing an "all things being equal" game.

6/ The key distinction between defenses in a criminal case—as any criminal defense lawyer knows—is between ones you develop because you have all the facts and ones you develop despite knowing the client *won't* give you the facts or is lying to you. This is *clearly* the latter.

7/ And by the way, the *most common reason* a client won't give you the facts or lies to you?

Guilt.

And there's really no second place—it's *guilt*. Their own or someone so important to them they'd go to prison for them. And Trump wouldn't go to prison for anyone—that's clear.

8/ Trump has so often lauded Flynn's integrity, and so often trusted him with sensitive information, and so often promoted him into positions of power, that the defense "He's the biggest liar anyone's ever seen!"—and before you even know what he's told Mueller!—is a suicide pact.

9/ I can say all this because I'm a professor, rather than still practicing law. I don't care what Trump's attorneys or high-powered criminal defense attorneys in DC think of me.

WP quoted attorneys who still want to network in the legal community—so they pulled their punches.