'Say it under oath': CNN legal analyst says DOJ is calling Kash Patel's bluff
Kash Patel participates in panel at CPAC Texas 2022 conference at Hilton Anatole. (Shutterstock.com)
October 21, 2022
On CNN Friday, former federal prosecutor Jim Walden said that Donald Trump's former Pentagon chief of staff Kash Patel's defense of his former boss in the classified documents investigation could come apart at the seams as the Justice Department puts him on the spot.
"Kash Patel, who is a former Trump administration appointee, has been called before the grand jury investigating the Mar-a-Lago documents case," said anchor John Berman. "And just to remind people of what Patel said, he talked about Trump declassifying documents. Let's play that."
"In December and January, I witnessed him declassify whole sets of documents," said Patel in the clip.
"So what does the grand jury want to know?"
"It's easy to say this stuff on TV. It's a little bit harder to say it under oath," said Walden. "And I think the government has called him to the grand jury because they want to figure out whether or not, in fact, he did witness declassification. I mean, remember, the former president said that he could declassify something by simply thinking about it. Patel claims that he saw Trump declassifying, but where's the evidence? We haven't seen a scintilla of evidence. My guess is this part of the investigation is getting serious. I don't think they'll bring it as a stand-alone case, but they're coming closer to the finish line, and they're trying to figure out whether or not Patel has any evidence."
"How specific will they get?" asked Berman. "Will they say, did you see Trump specifically declassify this document?"
"Absolutely," said Walden. "They will try to get him to be as specific as possible. And think about it. How could he testify, 'I saw him declassify?' Was he sitting at his desk looking at a document with Patel at the other side, and saying, 'I hereby declassify this'? This story doesn't have a lot of credibility."
Watch the video below or at this link.
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