Former prosecutor tells Maddow how newly released tape will be used during Trump's trial

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow began her Monday show by doing her own dramatic reading of Donald Trump's audio tape that was revealed by CNN. After listening to the tape, she explained that so much is left out in transcripts, like the cadence and inflection that makes it clear that Trump is handing a classified document to someone.

"I mean, let's just draw down on the specifics of this for a second. In Jack Smith bringing charges against Donald Trump, the sort of crux of the case, right?" said Maddow. "Is that the prosecution has to be able to prove that Trump had classified documents in his possession after he left the presidency, right? That's the illegal activity alleged in the indictment. And here in this part of the tape is Donald Trump saying he had possession of classified information after leaving the presidency."

Former federal prosecutor Barb McQuade, who now teaches law at the University of Michigan, joined the conversation saying she had two reactions to what she heard.

"One, as a former prosecutor, it makes my hair stand on end a little bit to see this in the public domain," she said. "Prosecutors try to keep this stuff safeguarded so you can't have witness tampering and crowdsourcing of defenses. Now people can because this is in the public domain. But as a matter of evidence, this is really powerful evidence. We had seen some verbatim quotes from this recording that was in the indictment, but to hear the whole thing play out, I think, is incredible evidence. And at trial, it will not just be this recording that's played in a vacuum. They will have to authenticate this document, this recording, with someone who was there. So, whether it is the biographer or the publisher or one of the two staffers, one or more of them will have to be there."

The question she expects them to be asked is if they looked at the documents because it sounds as if he is handing them to folks.

"So, I think it proves a couple of things," McQuade continued. "One as you said, his knowledge and intent, which is important here about that he is willfully violating the law, and the other is the incredible recklessness with which he is treating our national secrets. It is a very powerful piece of evidence."

McQuade ended the interview by saying, "Let's have some cokes," a reference to the bizarre final line in the tapes.

See the full conversation below or at the link here.

Former prosecutor tells Maddow how newly released tape will be used during Trump's trialwww.youtube.com