'They're closing in': Legal expert outlines prosecutors' move on Trump administration staff

On Monday's edition of CNN's "OutFront," NYU Law professor Ryan Goodman reacted to the New York Timesreport that Justice Department investigators are trying to compel testimony against multiple associates of former President Donald Trump, including former Pentagon chief of staff Kash Patel and a little-known White House cook they believe misled prosecutors.

The move represents a new phase in the Justice Department's investigation into a stash of classified documents Trump was holding at his Mar-a-Lago country club in Palm Beach, Florida — a stash that reportedly contained Iranian weapons secrets and information about spy operations against China.

"Kash Patel had appeared at a grand jury in Washington last week and taken the Fifth," said anchor Erin Burnett. "When we see the DOJ trying to get Patel and another person to try and testify now, how do you tie those threads together?"

"It looks like they're closing in directly on Donald Trump, to put these folks in the situation where they will testify and the kinds of evidence that they have point directly to Donald Trump," said Goodman. "Now the reporting is that Kash Patel took the Fifth last week. It was CNN that broke the story even before the grand jury. And the reporting from The Times tonight is the Justice Department is now trying to pressure him to still give testimony, which probably means give him an immunity deal that he can't in some ways refuse. They say you have immunity so you don't risk criminal liability for yourself. Now tell us what you know. And if that's what they're trying to do, that's a pretty strong tactic at this stage. It sounds like they are closing in."

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"If they think that the person above him in the case of Kash Patel knows, that person is Trump," said Burnett.

"It's not like it leads from Kash Patel to somebody else," agreed Goodman.

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