An MSNBC panel was stunned Thursday by a pair of broadcast interviews in which Donald Trump lawyer John Lauro appeared to confirm a claim contained in the former president’s January 6-related indictment.

Earlier in the evening, Lauro told Fox News personality Laura Ingraham that Trump had expressed his permission for Pence to send the election back to the states rather than having the Electoral College result confirmed.

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“What President Trump said is, ‘Let’s go with option D,’” Lauro said on The Ingraham Angle. “Let’s just halt, let’s just pause the voting and allow the state legislatures to take one last look and make a determination as to whether or not the elections were handled fairly. That’s constitutional law. That’s not an issue of criminal activity.”

MSNBC anchor Lawrence O’Donnell was surprised at the revelation.

“That is a Trump criminal defense lawyer quoting Donald Trump committing a crime,” he said. “Donald Trump’s criminal defense lawyer tonight added information to Jack Smith’s 42-page description of Donald Trump’s crimes. The conversation that John Lauro just described appears on page 34 of the indictment against his client.”

According to the accusation, during a meeting on January 4, “The Defendant and Co-Conspirator 2 then asked the Vice President to either unilaterally reject the legitimate electors from the seven targeted states, or send the question of which slate was legitimate to the targeted states’ legislatures.”

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It claims that the same co-conspirator emailed Pence’s lawyer on the evening of Jan. 6, recommending that the vice president violate the Electoral Count Act. “I implore you to consider one more relatively minor violation and adjourn for 10 days to allow the legislatures to finish their investigations, as well as to allow a full forensic audit of the massive amount of illegal activity that has occurred here,” the person, who is thought to be lawyer John Eastman, wrote.

On Thursday, Trump pleaded not guilty in federal court in Washington, D.C., to a four-count indictment accusing him of seeking to change the results of the 2020 presidential election.