GOP voters know Trump violated national security law — but want to 'put it aside': reporter

It appears as though Trump voters are fully aware he committed an illegal act but they are looking for a way to bypass that, a CNN senior political correspondent said Wednesday.

New reporting on Wednesday revealed there is taped audio of former President Donald Trump discussing a highly classified document on Iran — which provides clear evidence that, contrary to Trump's repeated claims, he was aware he isn't allowed to just mentally declassify any classified document he wants to.

Speaking on a CNN panel, reporter and anchor Abby Phillip outlined how even Trump supporters at this point broadly suspect he is guilty of federal crimes for his theft of classified information — they just want to ignore it.

"Trump's team is calling this meritless," said anchor Phil Mattingly. "We are going to see the former president heading back out on the campaign trail tomorrow. Do you think that Republican voters care about these recordings? Does this land with Republican voters that Trump is trying not just to maintain but bring over to his side?"

"Look, I think that voters in general do care about these legal cases involving Trump," said Phillip. "And a lot of the polling has suggested that, you know, majorities of Americans, which would necessarily include Republicans, care. A Quinnipiac poll showed almost half of Republicans thought the former president may have done something illegal as it pertained to his documents."

"However," noted Phillip, "Even while some voters might think that he did something wrong, it may not necessarily mean that they don't want to vote for him."

IN OTHER NEWS: The audio is all special counsel needs on Trump: Former DOJ official

"I think that's always been his strength in this field, is that they take in the negative information, maybe they think he did something wrong, and then they say, well, we'll put it aside because we care about these other things more," Phillip continued. "And that's why — it's not that he's Teflon, but Republican voters have a priority list that may be different from the rest of the electorate."

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