Watergate Prosecutor Dunks on Trump’s ‘Clown’ Attorney Joe Tacopina: ‘He’s a Joke’
A former Watergate prosecutor mocked an attorney for Donald Trump after he tried to grab a sheet of paper from an MSNBC host during a heated exchange.
Appearing on Friday’s edition of The ReidOut, Jill Wine-Banks was asked about Joe Tacopina, who is representing the former president. She called him “a clown” and “a joke.”
On Wednesday, Tacopina threw down with Ari Melber, telling the host Trump didn’t actually lie when he said he did not know about a payment his former attorney Michael Cohen paid Stormy Daniels. The $130,000 payment was intended as hush money ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Trump is being investigated over the matter by the Manhattan district attorney, reportedly about the possibility he falsified business records to hide the payment.
Melber showed Tacopina a clip of Trump denying he knew of the payment, which led to this exchange:
TACOPINA: Ari, that is–if that’s what you’re gonna consider a lie, a lie to me is something material under oath in a proceeding.
MELBER: I didn’t say perjury. I said a lie.
TACOPINA: Yeah, but that’s not a lie.
MELBER: That’s not a lie?!
TACOPINA: Here’s why it’s not a lie.
MELBER: That’s not a lie?!
TACOPINA: Here’s why it’s not a lie. [Tacopina reaches for a sheet of paper Melber is holding.] Could you put the paper down? Put the paper down. Let me answer.
On Friday, Joy Reid noted that several years ago, Daniels approached Tacopina about representing her in her case against Trump. That could pose an ethics issue for Tacopina as Trump’s attorney, at least in cases involving Daniels and Trump.
“What do you make of all that?” she asked Wine-Banks.
“I mean, anybody who saw his interview by Ari Melber knows – how can I say this nicely – that he’s a clown, that he’s a joke,” she replied. “Grabbing for the evidence? I’ve never seen anything like that. Saying it’s not a lie because it wasn’t under oath? No, perjury is under oath. Lies are lies. If I tell you a lie, it’s a lie. It doesn’t have to be under oath. So, his character and his ethics are clearly at issue here.”
Watch above via MSNBC.
