'This is the ballgame': MSNBC's Heilemann says it's all over for Trump after appeals court loss

Speaking with "Morning Joe" co-host Joe Scarborough and Willie Geist on Friday morning, MSNBC contributor John Heilemann claimed the unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit clearing the way for the House riot committee to receive documents from the National Archives is a devastating blow to Donald Trump.

As the Washington Post reported, the court "denied Trump’s request for a preliminary injunction blocking the National Archives and Records Administration from releasing the first roughly 800 pages of disputed Trump papers after President Biden declined to assert executive privilege as requested by his predecessor, setting up the first of its kind constitutional controversy."

With host Scarborough laughing at the legal argument the former president's lawyers have been hoping would sway the courts, Heilemann said it looks like the end of the road for Trump with only the Supreme Court left to appeal to.

"If you read all 68 pages, it's a line by line rebuke of the president and breaks up the guts of any arguments he's been making that day," co-host Willie Geist prompted.

READ MORE: Appeals court says 'there is a direct linkage' between Trump and Capitol riots

"It's not just black and white," Scarborough agreed. "With that said, John, this three-judge opinion by the D.C. Circuit was about as black and white -- I mean everything I have ever said about -- you just don't get a slam dunk through the legal system. It's just wrong, the words were so historic."

"There is direct link with linkage between the president and the events of that day, unanimous three-judge opinion in the D.C. Circuit," he continued. "That's very compelling as the lawyers trying to figure out what to do next."

"Very compelling and, in some ways, it rhymes with common sense, right?" the MSNBC contributor replied. "You don't have to be a lawyer to figure out claims of the president to executive privilege now that he's no longer president are absurd."

"The relevance is obvious and the claim of privilege is ridiculous," he continued while laughing before admitting he is not a lawyer and adding, "It's great when you see the court in such emphatic terms come to the same conclusion. And I will say that this is the ball game."

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