'That tape is problematic': Ex-Trump lawyer describes the moment Bedminster audio surfaced

Donald Trump's legal team sincerely believed the DOJ wouldn't bring charges in the Mar-a-Lago documents case until audio of Trump purportedly sharing classified info in Bedminster surfaced, according to the former president's ex-lawyer Tim Parlatore, who described the moment he heard about the clip.

In an appearance on CNN, Parlatore was asked about when the Trump legal team found out there was a recording of the meeting in Bedminster.

"What was your first reaction when you realized they had this piece of evidence against your client?" the host asked.

Parlatore replied bluntly, "That tape is problematic."

He added:

"It is not something that you would want to have when dealing with a case like this. It is not conclusive, but at the same time, it is the kind of thing you would like to know about in the beginning," Parlatore said.

Asked if the audio was a "game changer," Parlatore said, "It definitely -- it introduces more complexity to things."

"Really, before we got that tape, we truly did believe that they were just going through this exercise and that everything was going to get closed. We believed that, when they asked us to search Bedminster and Trump Tower, that that was just a hazing exercise of forcing us to go waste time."

That tape, he added, "is when we all of a sudden realized, okay, maybe there is something more here that they're looking at, other than just boxes getting moved down and a dispute about how fast they get sent back to NARA."

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