A legal analyst on Friday accused Donald Trump of trying to “graymail” federal prosecutors in the Florida classified documents case.
Charles Coleman Jr. said Trump’s legal team would likely use the practice of trying to compel prosecutors to withhold damaging evidence on the grounds that it would imperil national security.
Coleman made the comments during an appearance on MSNBC’s “The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell.”
The Veteran civil rights attorney cited the Classified Information Procedures Act that is often associated with “graymailing,” a term used to describe the threat of revealing sensitive national security information.
Coleman said “when you're talking strategically about Donald Trump's defense team, one of the things that has come up with respect to the conversation on CEPA, which is the classified information protection act is this notion of ‘graymail.’"
“Graymail is a strategy that has been used to basically put the pressure on the prosecutor because you basically want everything exposed when you're dealing with classified information and get them to make the decision as to what it is that they put out and how much of that they put out.”
Coleman said that graymailing special counsel Jack Smith could present challenges.
“Now you're putting in front of Jack Smith, a new factor to navigate with respect to what is it with these cameras out that you're going to put out to the public? And how much of that are you willing to put on the line from a national security standpoint, in terms of proving your case,” Coleman said.
“So this is a very key strategy, not to mention that Donald Trump, of course, is the king of narratives, and this is also an opportunity for him to sort of play the victim and not necessarily be prosecuted, while he claims he's being persecuted.”
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