Reacting to a bombshell report from the New York Times that Donald Trump reportedly wanted to hold stolen confidential government files hostage in exchange for FBI files on their investigation into his 2016 campaign's ties to the Russians, former U.S. attorney Joyce Vance claimed that may be the last straw for the Department for Justice.
Appearing on MSNBC on Sunday afternoon with host Erin O'Hearn, a former prosecutor suggested the clock is now ticking on a Trump indictment.
As the Times reported, "Mr. Trump, still determined to show he had been wronged by the F.B.I. investigation into his 2016 campaign’s ties to Russia, was angry with the National Archives and Records Administration for its unwillingness to hand over a batch of sensitive documents that he thought proved his claims," adding, "In exchange for those documents, Mr. Trump told advisers, he would return to the National Archives the boxes of material he had taken to Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Fla."
Speaking with O'Hearn, Vance explained, "The evidence continues to damage the former president more and more as it unfolds and this is perhaps the most critical piece."
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"Something we can take away from this, Erin, is that even those around Trump, even his advisers, were not foolish enough to take this so-called deal to Justice Department and to the National Archives," she maintained.
"Because what was put on full display was the fact that he knew what he had, he knew it was material he was not entitled to," she further explained. "Whether it's technically extortion, whether it is some other misconduct, nothing about this is seemly for a former president."
"He's not entitled to engage in a back-and-forth court to get materials he wants but is not entitled to," Vance added. "This deserves the highest level of scrutiny from the Justice Department and, increasingly its more an issue of when, not if, there will be a prosecution."
Watch below or at the link:
MSNBC 10 09 2022 14 10 47youtu.be
