Trump lawyers meet prosecutors as Jan. 6 indictment looms

Former President Trump’s defense lawyers met for an hour with special counsel Jack Smith’s team Thursday ahead of a possible indictment in the Jan. 6 probe.

Todd Blanche and John Lauro, Trump’s top lawyers in the case, were expected to make the case to Smith that he should not indict Trump in the sprawling plot to overturn the 2020 election.

After the meeting, NBC News reported that Trump’s team was told to expect an indictment.

The high-stakes sit-down comes more than a week after Trump was hit with a target letter informing him that he would likely be indicted.

The letter mentioned three possible crimes that Trump could face: defrauding the U.S. government, depriving people of their rights under the color of law and tampering with witnesses.

The grand jury hearing evidence in the Jan. 6 investigation was meeting as usual behind closed doors. After Thursday, it would normally meet next on Tuesday.

There was no immediate indication that Smith might ask the panel to hand up indictments of Trump or anyone else Thursday.

Smith personally attended a similar meeting with Trump’s attorneys in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case. The defense plea apparently fell on deaf ears in that instance and Trump was indicted three days after the meeting, making him the first former president to be charged with federal crimes.

He pleaded not guilty to a 37-count indictment in that case and faces a May 20, 2024 trial date.

Trump is the only person who has acknowledged receiving a target letter in the Jan. 6 probe. Legal analysts say that does not necessarily mean no one else would be charged.

Along with the former president, several of his acolytes would appear to have potential criminal exposure in the case including White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Trump personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and several other far right-wing lawyers who helped hatch the scheme to block Congress from certifying Biden’s win.

Giuliani recently met with Smith’s prosecutors in an effort to fend off an indictment by telling them what he knows about the scheme that culminated in the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.