Catching Amulek in a contradiction would let the lawyers discredit Amulek and, therefore, also discredit Alma, thereby defending the status quo against two men who were trying to change it. Alma and Amulek posed a serious threat because they fulfilled a social requirement about two witnesses. Alma alone was easy to dismiss and did not attract the lawyers’ attention.
Amulek “perceived their thoughts,” possibly because he was familiar with them and their tactics and possibly because of the Spirit’s inspiration. In either case, he publicly exposed their strategy, not only countering their approach but serving notice to the assembly that this was not a simple case of the lawyers defending the city. His attack, which associated the lawyers with the devil, invited the people to think twice about accepting the lawyers too trustingly.