'We have to be very careful': Trump and lawyer disagree on 'asking for recusal' of judge

Former President Donald Trump and attorney John Lauro are not seeing eye to eye on how to navigate the MAGA hopeful's newest criminal charge over his alleged attempt to overturn the 2020 election, Politico reports.

Per Politico, the former president "already has tested Lauro's public advice in a few ways — primarily by talking about the case at all, and often in incendiary ways."

Trump, according to the report, announced Sunday, August 6 "that his legal team would be 'immediately asking for recusal' of U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan — who will preside over his January 6 trial — "proclaiming (but not revealing) 'very powerful grounds' for the demand."

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The next morning, Politico reports Trump "was again hammering on the recusal issue, calling Chutkan 'the Judge of [special counsel Jack Smith's] 'dreams' (WHO MUST BE RECUSED!).'"

However, Lauro appeared on Florida defense attorney David Markus' podcast Sunday saying, "We haven't made a final decision on that issue at all. I think as lawyers we have to be very careful of those issues and handle them with the utmost delicacy."

Lauro continued, "I think it's a little bit different than our standard case where we would pull our hair out if a client commented on a prosecutor or a judge. He feels strongly that he needs to speak out, and he also, in particular, looks at this prosecution as a political prosecution. I think, in his mind, it's sort of fair game from a political perspective to make these comments."

Politico reports:

The back-and-forth on public airwaves and social media underscores the familiar tension between Trump and his legal team, which has been rocked by infighting, departures and conflicting advice in recent months. All of it, however, is secondary to Trump’s own whims and instincts, which have served him politically but are grating against the rules and norms of behavior for those charged with serious federal crimes.

Politico also notes:

Even before Trump's latest comments, Trump's hack-and-slash attacks at adversaries — real and perceived — seemed guaranteed to create headaches for his legal team. His broad Friday night Truth Social post, vowing 'If you go after me, I’m coming after you!,' prompted prosecutors to alert Chutkan to a potentially ominous threat. Trump later denied he was referencing anyone connected to his criminal cases.

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Politico's full report is available at this link.