An attorney representing a central figure in Donald Trump’s coup attempt repeatedly refused to acknowledge the former president lost the 2020 election.
“First and foremost, Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. You accept that fact?” MSNBC’s Ari Melber asked at the start of an interview with Charles Burnham on Monday.
Burnham is representing John Eastman, a lawyer who has been identified as one of the six uncharged co-conspirators listed in last week’s federal indictment of Trump.
He didn’t answer the question.
“Well, there’s a large portion of the country that has issues with the 2020 election. There are still discussion about things that went on,” Burnham replied.
“Large portion the country believes in ghosts or horoscopes,” Melber shot back. “I’m asking you, do you accept the results of the election that Donald Trump lost?”
Burnham dodged again.
“I’m just here as an attorney representing a client. But the important thing is,” he continued, as Melber interrupted.
“I want to give you the opportunity to answer,” Melber said. “It’s a very easy question to answer. If you can’t answer it, I’ve got other questions.”
Burnham still wouldn’t say, stating only that his “personal opinions are neither here nor there.”
Eastman has been identified in the media as the second unnamed co-conspirator in the Trump indictment, described in the document as “an attorney who devised and attempted to implement a strategy to leverage the Vice President’s ceremonial role overseeing the certification proceeding to obstruct the certification of the presidential election.”
The indictment details a Jan. 4, 2021, phone call in which Co-Conspirator 2 pressured then-Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers (R) to decertify the election results in the state, which President Joe Biden won.
Burnham told Melber his client had not received a target letter, “and we very much hold out hope, and maybe even an expectation, that he will not be indicted. Our position has always been that he committed no crimes.”
Trump is charged with four felony counts over the effort to overturn the 2020 election result in his favor, including engaging in a conspiracy to defraud the government, a conspiracy to obstruct the certification of electoral votes, and a conspiracy against the right to have one’s vote counted.
Watch the interview below.
