Andrew Napolitano tells Shep Smith: NY Times report implicates Whitaker in ‘two potential crimes’

On Tuesday, the New York Timesreleased a damning report that revealed President Donald Trump tried to get former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to intervene in Michael Cohen's case. According to the Times, Trump wanted Geoff Berman, a Trump appointee, to take over the Cohen case.

Fox News' legal expert Judge Andrew Napolitano told Shepard Smith that the reports implicate Whitaker in two potential crimes.

“Matt Whitaker testified under oath just a week or ten days ago… that he had not been asked to influence any decisions that the DoJ was being asked to make ,” Napolitano said.

"There's two potential crimes here for Matthew Whitaker. One is actual perjury — lying to the Congress — the other is misleading. Remember, you could be truthful but still misleading and there are those two  statutes there," Napolitano added.

"You not only have to be truthful. You have to not mislead. So if he said, 'The president never asked me to do something' and it's misleading because he knew what the President wanted ... look, Geoff Berman is a respected lawyer. Mr. Berman had the good ethical sense to say, 'This involves Donald Trump? I'm not involved in it.'"

If the Times reporting that Trump called Whitaker to ask him to put Berman in charge proves correct, it's evidence of "corrupt intent," Napolitano explained. "That is, an effort to use the levers of power of the government for a corrupt purpose."

Watch: