Chuck Todd’s “Meet the Press” interview Sunday with Donald Trump’s attorney Joe Tacopina quickly turned tense, as the lawyer dodged questions about the insults the former president has thrown at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who may soon file criminal charges against him.
“Mr. Trump has described Alvin Bragg this week as a ‘Soros-backed animal,’ said he was ‘doing the work of anarchists and the devil,’ called him a ‘degenerate psychopath’ and he called him a ‘Soros racist in reverse,’ saying ‘this is the Gestapo.’ As his lawyer. Do you stand by those comments?” Todd asked.
Tacopina sidestepped the question, instead criticizing Bragg for reportedly planning to press charges on Trump for alleged hush money payments to former adult film star Stormy Daniels in the final days of the 2016 presidential election, saying that Americans “should all be concerned about the weaponization of a prosecutor’s office.”
“I want to dissect this case because it’s a case that shouldn’t be brought, and wouldn’t be brought up for anyone other than Donald Trump,” Tacopina said. “Let’s be clear about that. Does anyone actually think left, right or in the middle that anyone else will be prosecuted for making a civil settlement in a hush money case with personal funds? Of course not.”
Over the past week, Trump has repeatedly attacked Bragg and his office, promising “death and destruction” at a Saturday rally in Waco if he is prosecuted. Last weekend, Trump wrote on his Truth Social media platform that he expected to be indicted this past Tuesday, though such charges were not brought on that day by Bragg’s office.
When Todd pressed further, Tacopina said that he believed a since-deleted Truth Social post on Trump’s page of a picture of Trump holding a baseball bat next to Bragg’s head was “ill-advised,” but added that he was “not his social media consultant.”
“We went through January 6th, so it’s not like [just] a possibility that Trump’s rhetoric creates violence. It’s already happened once. Are you not concerned this could happen [again]?” Todd asked.
“I’m not accepting that proposition that his rhetoric created violence; I think violence was on the way that day,” Tacopina said. “But I’m not here to discuss that, Chuck. I’m not going to defend or or condemn anything regarding social media. That’s not what I do… I’m not a Trump PR person.”
Watch the full “Meet the Press” interview in the video above.
