Trump’s lies tested limits of the bully pulpit. His right to say them is at core of criminal defense

WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama, mindful of the urgent power of a president’s words, liked to say he was guarded with his language because anything he said could send troops marching or markets tumbling. Now Trump is facing dozens of criminal charges in four separate indictments, two ofthem anchored in the Republican’s lie that he did not lose the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden. And Trump’s propensity for falsehoods and his right to utter them are at the core of his legal defense. “Scholars like me who study presidential rhetoric, presidential communication, they call it essentially a second Constitution,” said Jennifer Mercieca, a communications scholar at Texas A&M University. This is really the first thing you learn when you come to the White House,” said Dan Pfeiffer, Obama’s White House communications director.