'Devastating': Legal expert says Trump tape is 'gold' for Jack Smith
Following CNN's release of audio footage of former President Donald Trump bragging about holding highly classified military intelligence about Iran attack plans to staffers and patrons of his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey, former federal prosecutor Elie Honig discussed the key implications on CNN on Monday.
This, he argued, is close to the best kind of evidence special counsel Jack Smith could possibly have for the Espionage Act charges against the former president.
"It is stunning to actually hear it," said anchor Kaitlan Collins. "We knew what he said, but to hear the audio, to hear the tone, to hear the conversation, the laughter in there — I mean, I'm not a prosecutor. I imagine this is a prosecutor's dream."
"Exactly right," agreed Honig. "This is a devastating tape. This is why prosecutors love tapes so much. This is why tapes are gold to prosecutors. I used to have cases where the first question was, do you have tapes? If you do, that changes everything."
Last week, Trump sat for an interview with Fox News' Bret Baier, in which he claimed that most of the documents he was being charged for were in fact innocent magazine and newspaper clippings — a claim very much at odds with what he stated on the tape.
"We can see the difference between the black and white transcript, where the words are fairly incriminating," added Honig. "How it comes to life, though. You hear the tone. You hear who's in the room. You hear that he means it. You hear that he's actually shuffling papers. And this, to me, is the most important piece of evidence that we know of in this case."
Watch the segment below or at this link.
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