“Everything is on the table!” Trump dealt LEGAL BLOW after botched indictment

Everybody knows about the DOJ. backtracking on this reflecting pool. case. I'm joined now by Norm Eisen, who. represented former Olympian David Hearn, who was at the heart of this case and. now vindicated in the aftermath of the. DOJ dropping its charges. Norm, first. and foremost, Donald Trump was asked. about this and continues to cling to. this idea that in fact Jenean Pierro was. absolutely dead wrong to drop these. charges and even though the Department. of the Interior and the DOJ now have. evidence that suggests that David Hearn.

didn't do anything wrong, that he didn't. cut a 350-ft gash in the reflecting. pool, still he wants to see him. prosecuted. So, can I have your reaction. to Trump's insistence, his obstinance on. this idea that a known innocent man. should still be dragged through the. ringer? >> We said David Hearn was innocent when. the case began. He, unusually for. criminal defendant, went out and. proclaimed his own innocence. Uh we started filing motions on the.

defense team, Brian, the day after he. was arraigned. I filed my first motion. with my wonderful colleagues, Mary. Dormant. the Washington Litigation Group, Steve. Levine at Steptoe. With that first motion had pictures, before and after pictures, including. from the government itself showing that. David Hearn had not done anything to. that liner, that it was the same before.

he touched it and after he touched it. And we've continued to file those. motions. So, finally, uh. uh the US Attorney's Office, Judge. Pierro, was forced to admit uh what the. evidence showed. Donald Trump can't. handle that. It's not the first time. that we've had this challenge because, Brian, as you know, there's been a. series of innocent people who have been. prosecuted and persecuted by this.

administration. But like many of those. others, Davie Hearn is not going to. break. He's a three-time Olympian, many-time world champion. He understands. rigor. He's tough. And he's going to. keep on going no matter what the. president or anybody else says. >> Is there any likelihood that far from. just feeling vindication for beating. these charges, that he might actually go. after the federal government and seek. some monetary damages as the result of.

them dragging him through this process, knowing full well that he was innocent. and yet all of these law enforcement. officials coming out and offering up. this conclusion anyway? >> The worst thing. contemplated by American law. is the power of the state, the. overwhelming force, particularly through. criminal proceedings. trying to crush an innocent person.

We're reviewing all of the options. Everything is on the table. He's got a. um. a very capable. legal team and um all options. remain [clears throat] in play. For now, the focus is on getting the case. dismissed, but you haven't heard the. last of uh this matter because. in America, this is not supposed to. happen.

>> Trump seems to be hell-bent on. insisting, as I mentioned before, that. Jeanine Pirro was wrong to to drop these. charges. Knowing what we now know from the. Department of Interior and from all of. this documentation showing that in fact. it was the result of a botched job and. not vandalism, what would what would. happen to Jeanine Pirro as the US. attorney for Washington DC had she. nonetheless insisted on continuing with. this prosecution?

>> Well, you face the most serious. consequences when you prosecute an. innocent man after you've been told. there's not enough evidence to establish. proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The most serious consequences, ethics. consequences, ability to practice law, potential civil. liability, possibly personal liability if it's bad. enough.

It's the worst thing you can do as a. prosecutor, as a government official to. go after someone innocent. But, I do not accept the statement in the. government's extraordinary filing on. Friday. that it only figured this out after it. asked the Department of the Interior for. all the evidence. I mean, come on. The we've filed brief after brief with.

evidence, photographs, testimony, proof. that Davey was innocent. They knew it. And and that is also in itself a serious. problem that that knowledge was there. We believe established by our filings. before uh. the Interior Department supposedly. um. revealed. the truth to them. So, that's one part. of that uh.

government motion from last Friday that. I find a little. hard. It doesn't. It doesn't carry water, Brian. >> I'm curious, there is some thinking. online or among some folks, the. skeptics, who think that, you know, this. is all just Trump needing to find. someone to cover for him and so he, you. know, let Jeanine Pirro know like, "Hey, this can't be my fault. I need uh I'm. going to lash out at you a little bit, so just, you know, play along." Do you. think that this is that this is Trump.

understanding what happened or do you. think that he's a true believer that. Jeanine Pirro should have actually gone. through with this prosecution and that. when he attacks her online and says that. she made a. mistake that he's actually being earnest. and that this isn't just kayfabe. kayfabe, basically? >> [laughter]. >> Uh yeah, this is not a some kind of uh insect. dance or kabuki performance. Yeah. >> [laughter]. >> She. She has enraged.

Donald Trump by conceding the truth, even if she did it with a extremely. implausible excuse that, "Oh, the. Department of the Interior pulled the. wool over our eyes." Come on. Um. nevertheless, um the truth has been. revealed. um including through those motions that. we kept filing. One of them. uh was to take discovery about um. possible grand jury wrongdoing and then.

the decision to drop the case came right. after that. Is that a coincidence? I. don't know. The truth of all of this. will come out. It always all leaks out. with this administration. Uh but I do. know this, Davie Hearn is innocent. The. proof is overwhelming that Davie Hearn. is innocent and anybody who perpetuates. the lie that uh he did anything wrong is. doing a grave disservice.

uh to the Constitution, to the rule of. law, and to the idea of America. This is. not a country where we prosecute. innocent people, Brian. Yeah. And and. yet, you know, what strikes me so much. about this is that that's exactly what. Trump was willing to do. He doesn't care. whose life he has to destroy or who he. has to destroy in pursuit of just. salvaging his ego. I mean, this was all. about not wanting to be wrong. And so, I. mean, it's sociopathic behavior to be.

willing, knowing that that Davey Hearn. was completely innocent, to be still. willing to throw the full weight of the. federal government behind his efforts to. prosecute him, to destroy his life, to. lock him up, knowing what they knew. But. like he placed his own ego above this. guy's freedom. >> Well, I won't. um get into uh analysis about uh what. uh the heck is going on, but um the.

reaction, I will say, has just been to. underline uh the innocence of Mr. Hearn. >> Yeah. >> Uh. >> [snorts]. >> and I will say um that it has been very. gratifying to see those of all political. stripes, even many who normally support. or agree with President Trump, say, "Hey, this is an innocent man. He's a. three-time Olympian, repeated world. champion canoeist. Uh.

the evidence doesn't prove it. And uh. it's it's wrong to continue to attack. him. So, um uh the president has managed to unify. the country around that, Brian. >> Norm, I'm curious, in during the. lawsuit, while you were speaking with. the judge, what what has come of this. idea of the presumption of regularity? And I ask that because for and for those. who are watching who don't know what the. presumption of regularity is is that. there is normally deference paid to the.

federal government. That when the. federal government says something, because they have years of of good faith. behind them, judges are more inclined to. believe the things the federal. government says, that they're acting in. good faith, that they're not lying, what. they say is true. Knowing the extent to. which the Trump administration has lied. for years at this point, and especially. in this case, is there any indication as. to whether judges are still granting. this Department of Justice the. presumption of regularity, or has that.

been all but obliterated? >> Well, we haven't yet. reached. a decision on the motions we filed, the. pre-trial issues, of course, the trial. itself. So, I'll confine myself to my other three. over 300 legal cases and matters. Uh. although the Hearn case certainly has. done nothing for the. to restore the presumption of. regularity. It has been obliterated.

over the course of our matters and the. hundreds of others. that we've seen over the past year and a. half. Whether it's birthright citizenship, where a Democracy Defenders Fund and or. action we litigated cases denying. the plain. meaning of the Constitution. Dr. Lisa Cook, another wrongly. prosecuted individual from the Federal.

Reserve, we took that to the Supreme. Court and won. Um the. other corruption cases, the slush fund. case in Florida, the. Kennedy Center case, um. over and over again we've seen in these. cases. that. the administration is forcing its. lawyers to make arguments that. don't pass the smell test.

>> Yeah. And of course you are going to. lose trust with judges, with juries. You. know, in a lot of these cases they're. either thrown out pre-trial. That. happened in another case I worked on, the labor leader David Huerta in. California peacefully protesting ICE. Um. in um. Leticia. James uh. or Jim Comey. You know, you see these cases and and.

sometimes they come after the people. again and again, Brian. It's so wrong. It's so un-American. But I will say. in a positive sign, the American people. see through this. Uh Donald Trump's um approval ratings. have sunk to lows that are now. approaching Richard Nixon's in the. depths of his. um of his corruption crisis. So, just. reflecting on my other cases, I do think.

the uh presumption of regularity has. been blown to smithereens. >> You'd mentioned your other 300 cases. What is next? What's coming down the. pike in terms of what we can expect uh. from the indefatigable Norm Eisen? >> Elections, elections, elections. We have. um. a large portfolio of um election. safeguarding activity at Democracy. Defenders Fund. Our 300 cases and.

matters include a large number of those. For example, in Fulton County, Georgia, we quashed the criminal subpoena where. Donald Trump was trying to dig into the. 2020 election. We had a long hard fight. in court. We finally succeeded there. Uh redistricting, we had one of the. biggest redistricting successes, Prop. 50, um adding five seats to the. pro-democracy. landscape in our country.

Just. today we filed in the United States. Supreme Court on behalf of 55 former. federal and state judges, mostly. conservatives and Republicans, a brief. saying. Donald Trump's second. executive order tampering with elections. should not be allowed to take effect. We. defeated his first executive order. And.

Brian, my team and I are ready. We I was part. of many of the 63 cases in 2020. We are. ready to do twice that number. I told. the team, let's get ready. 126 cases if. necessary. We will protect this. election. If you are watching, you can. rest assured that my colleagues and I. and so many partners around the country. are ready to make sure that your vote.

can be cast and the elections proceed. freely and fairly. We are not going to. let. uh anything happen, any sabotage when it. comes to these elections. >> To that end, for folks who are watching. and listening right now, you know, I've. I've always been an advocate for the. people who are on the front lines doing. this work, and you are chief among them. So, for folks who are looking to support. your efforts, where can they go? >> They can go to Democracy Defenders Fund. or Democracy Action.

Uh Brian always very kindly puts those. uh links, our website, uh on the screen. And Brian, I have to. thank you and your viewers and. listeners. We have been on this journey. together since the very beginning of the. Trump administration. And there were. some dark days at the beginning, but. we've continued in court our wonderful. partners, clients, other organizations, the democracy movement has done the same.

and a series of successes thanks to the. help that you and your viewers provide. So, we're very grateful to you and. everybody watching for that friendship. for us, for the Democracy Defenders. family, but for the Constitution and. rule of law and the idea of America. Let's get moving with forward progress. again on that idea. >> Perfect place to leave off, Norm. As. always, thanks for the work you're. doing. Thanks for taking the time today.

>> Thanks, Brian. >> [music].