The audio is all special counsel needs on Trump: former DOJ official
Donald Trump stands before his luxurious Florida compound, Mar-a-Lago, where he has spent many weekends of his young presidency (AFP Photo/Don EMMERT)
May 31, 2023
Even if Donald Trump was fibbing about having a document outlining a potential attack on Iran, the audio of him claiming to have it provides enough evidence for investigators, according to a former Justice Department official.
Mary McCord previously worked as the acting assistant attorney general for national security at the U.S. Department of Justice, so when it comes to Donald Trump's document scandal, she's well-schooled on the specifics of the law. Speaking to MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace on Wednesday, McCord addressed the bombshell CNN report saying Trump was caught on tape admitting to having classified documents about a possible war in Iran.
Speaking to biographers working with Mark Meadows, Trump “recalls a four-page report typed up by (Trump’s then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) Mark Milley himself. It contained the general’s own plan to attack Iran, deploying massive numbers of troops, something he urged President Trump to do more than once during his presidency," the report said.
The report describes Trump rustling around papers on his desk at his Bedminster Golf Club in New Jersey, acting as if he had them in his hand. Trump explained he couldn't show them to the biographers.
The reporting made some wonder if it was a legitimate claim from Trump or another example of Trump lying to make himself seem more remarkable. According to McCord, it doesn't matter because special counsel Jack Smith already has enough evidence that Trump stole documents, showed them to people, was careless with them, refused to return them, and obstructed justice.
What the new findings reveal is that he knew what the law was. She cited General Mark Milley, who Trump said crafted the document. He would have been asked by Smith whether such a document existed and if he had given it to Trump.
"If Milley says there is no such document, again, it just shows, again, the lies of a serial liar, but it doesn't change the important aspect of that recording that shows that Donald Trump knew he couldn't share classified information," said McCord.
An earlier report about Trump and Milley revealed that the former president wanted information that specifically mentioned Milley.
"Investigators have also asked witnesses if Trump showed a particular interest in material relating to Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff," said the April 2023 Post report, citing people familiar with those interviews. Milley was appointed by Trump but drew scorn and criticism from Trump and his supporters after a series of revelations in books about Milley’s efforts to rein in Trump toward the end of his term. In 2021, Trump repeatedly complained publicly about Milley, calling him an “idiot.”
"This is the reason why I suggested that Donald Trump could have made up the existence of this document because he was responding to these press reports because he was so annoyed with Gen. Milley and he wanted to essentially plant the seed with these journalists that Milley is lying," McCord said. "But it also could be if there really is such a document, as I understood it, he gave this interview at Bedminster in 2021. And there is some reporting also that on the audio recording, you can hear the rustling of papers. That could be the classified information, or it could be something else that he is rustling in his hands, trying to suggest that he actually has classified information. But if there is a classified document and it was at Bedminster, that raises a whole host of issues."
She recalled former Trump lawyer Tim Parlatore, who spoke to CNN after he resigned. He said that Trump aide Boris Epshteyn was acting against him, making it more difficult for the team to help Trump. Specifically, the lawyers said Epshteyn blocked his and Evan Corcoran's attempts to search Bedminster for all the White House documents.
"There is really recent reporting that one of the employees at Mar-a-Lago, who has apparently been cooperating with Jack Smith also told Jack Smith about loading some boxes into a truck to go up to Bedminster from Mar-a-Lago," McCord also recalled.
She closed by paraphrasing Sir Walter Scott: "What a tangled web we have here."
See the video below or at the link.
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