Donald Trump got bad news Tuesday, when special counsel Jack Smith submitted a filing indicating that a key witness in the classified documents criminal case has reversed course and provided information implicating the former president. Legal experts appear to think this could be a turning point in that particular case.
Former prosecutor Harry Litman reacted strongly to the news, saying this is how cases are made for prosecutors.
"New filing from Jack Smith reveals that Taveras changed his false account only after getting a new lawyer – a public defender from DC. de Oliveira and Nauta made the other choice now, and are now in huge jeopardy, especially with Taveras’s testimony. This is how cases are made," the analyst wrote.
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He added a warning to those still standing by Trump:
"With good and independent counsel, they would’ve known better from the start. But it’s taking the harsh reality of actual charges to make defendants view their positions soberly. All the better for Justice, all the worse for Trump," he wrote.
Former Mueller prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said:
"The importance of independent counsel; and Federal Defenders are excellent attorneys who do their job for their actual client."
Conservative lawyer and frequent Trump-critic George Conway responded to Smith's filing by saying, "The technical legal term I would use to describe this brief newly filed by the Government in the Mar-a-Lago case is holy s**t."
