Exclusive: Trump's secret court fight to stop grand jury from getting information from his inner circle - CNN

The court fight over privilege, which has not been previously reported and is under seal, is a turning point for Trump's post-presidency legal woes.

How the fight is resolved could determine whether prosecutors can tear down the firewall Trump has tried to keep around his conversations in the West Wing and with attorneys he spoke to as he sought to overturn the 2020 election and they worked to help him hold onto the presidency.

This dispute came to light as former Trump White House adviser and lawyer Eric Herschmann received a grand jury subpoena seeking testimony, the people briefed said.

Other former senior Trump White House officials, including former White House counsel Pat Cipollone and his deputy Patrick Philbin, appeared before the grand jury in recent weeks, after negotiating specific subjects they would decline to answer question about, because of Trump's privilege claims.

In addition to Cipollone and Philbin, former vice presidential aides Greg Jacob and Marc Short have appeared before the grand jury in the DC courthouse and declined to answer some questions because of Trump's executive privilege claims, CNN previously reported.

The Trump legal team's push to broadly assert privilege has been subject of disagreement among its lawyers over legal strategy, people briefed on the matter said.

He then raised concerns about DOJ seeking to compel his testimony if he refused to testify to certain questions.

Herschmann previously testified to the House committee about what he saw at the White House around January 6.

The outspoken lawyer expressed concerns that the Trump team's approach potentially put him at risk for grand jury contempt, according to people briefed on the matter.