‘It Was Both of Us’: Trump Attorney Says Client Was Also in Charge of Failed Defense

Attorney Todd Blanche said he and Donald Trump were responsible for the former president’s legal defense, which failed to avert a conviction.

On Thursday, a Manhattan jury found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records. It is the first time a former or sitting U.S. president has been convicted of a crime. Trump said he will appeal his conviction.

Hours after the verdict was delivered, Blanche appeared on CNN, where host Kaitlan Collins asked about what if any contributions the former president made to his defense strategy. Collins shared what she had observed from being in the courtroom on multiple occasions, noting that Trump sometimes passed notes to his attorneys and urged them to object.

“Who ultimately was in charge of the defense strategy here?” she asked. “Was it you or was it Donald Trump?”

“It was both of us,” Blanche replied. “If there’s a lawyer that comes in and says that they’re in charge of their defense strategy, they’re not doing a service to their client. Every decision that we made, we made as a team – and not just President Trump and myself, but the whole team. And so– and again, every defendant, everybody who has their life on the line in history, will tap their lawyer every once in a while and say, ‘Hey, what about this? What about that?'”

He went on to say he and Trump were always “on the same page” and praised the way the former president conducted himself during the trial.

Blanche also appeared on Fox News on Thursday night and was asked how involved Trump was in choosing the jurors that ultimately convicted him.

“I mean, very much involved,” the attorney said. “He was right there with the whole team talking about the potential jurors.”

Watch above via CNN.