The recent superseding indictment in the criminal classified documents case against Donald Trump puts his two co-defendants in an awkward position that might encourage them to flip on their boss, according to a former prosecutor.
Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti appeared Saturday on MSNBC and suggested that the new filings are confusing for Trump's aides, who might not be aware of each other's movements. Mariotti previously said the indictment against Carlos De Oliveira in the classified documents case may reflect an effort by prosecutors to compel the third person to be indicted in the case to flip on a co-defendant.
Mariotti said the new charges represent "very powerful evidence" against Trump.
"Very powerful evidence that frankly is a very powerful account that realistically the jury is going to have a lot of trouble excusing, a lot of trouble ignoring," he said.
Mariotti added:
"You could say whatever you want about the Presidential Records Act or about declassification, the bottom line is destroying evidence, that's the sort of thing that the average person could get their head around. So that's really important, and then there's also the dynamic between these two defendants now, these two minor defendants. Are they going to try to flip against -- who's going to flip first? Is one going to flip against Trump? Are they both going to flip? There's a dynamic now where Walt Nauta, he can't just be assured of the fact that he is going to be the low man in the trial. Now you have two potential employees, and neither of them know what the other might do."
