Trump lawyer in Jack Smith case draws conservative backing after DOJ praise rattles 'elite' legal conference

By Fox News · Fox News

President Donald Trump’s former defense lawyer received swift backing from conservative legal figures online after facing pushback at a recent American Bar Association (ABA) conference for praising the Trump Department of Justice . Attorney John Lauro, who defended Trump in special counsel Jack Smith’s 2020 election case, said the DOJ was "in a better place" under Trump, causing fellow panelists and audience members to shudder, according to a Bloomberg Law report of the event. Lauro told Fox News Digital in a brief phone call on Monday that the event "was a highly triggered environment." "I called out the ABA and other elite legal organizations for not condemning the prior administration in holding political sham trials and show trials, particularly the one directed at President Trump, where the Biden administration wanted to put him on trial in 90 days, which is shorter than it takes for a traffic ticket to get worked through in D.C.," Lauro said. LABOR DEPARTMENT ORDERS LAWYERS TO CUT TIES WITH ABA, SLAMS GROUP AS ‘RADICAL’ ACTIVIST FORCE The tense panel put a spotlight on the Trump administration’s ongoing fight with the ABA as it spurred DOJ officials and lawyers to voice their disdain for the organization. "The ABA is trash and I’m proud to never have been a member," Civil Rights Division head Harmeet Dhillon said . "Its stunt trashing Judge [Robert] Bork did it for me." "As if we needed anymore proof of the absolute disgrace that is the ABA," wrote Associate Deputy Attorney General Diego Pestana. "John Lauro, one of the best trial attorneys in the country and patriot, treated terribly for simply daring to voice a view contrary to the liberal white collar bar." Lauro said during the panel, held at a conference in San Diego, that he had "the unique experience of representing a political figure who was probably more abused by the criminal justice system in America than any other political figure ever." "Everything that has gone on in the current administration m…