Former federal prosecutor and legal analyst Harry Litman said there might be a new charge of conspiracy in the Mar-a-Lago documents case.
It was revealed Monday that, after the FBI raid on the country club, Trump cozied up to a ex-staffer who had quit his job in the days after.
Trump called the ex-employee, something CNN reported he "rarely did," and reportedly got a message to the ex-employee that the ex-president saw him as a "good man."
According to Litman, "The CNN report of a new witness in Mar-a-Lago seems fairly incendiary. He participates in the box-moving and then leaves [the] Trump Organization and gets his own lawyer. Trump thereafter reaches out a couple [of] times and DeOliveira transmits an offer for comp tickets to a Trump golf tournament."
The unnamed aide "moved several boxes for Trump" and was in on conversations with the other co-defendants, Carlos De Oliveria and bodyman Walt Nauta, according to CNN's reporting.
"The phone call from Trump, described to CNN by multiple people familiar with it, was part of a pattern of outreach to the former employee, who would become a key witness in the months after the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago and before Trump’s June indictment. Interactions included offers of legal representation by attorneys paid for by Trump and complimentary tickets to a golf tournament, as well as repeated reminders he could come back to work for Trump," said the report.
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While the incidents may have been harmless, some coincidences prompted the special counsel's office to look into it.
It "sure sounds like a separate count of conspiracy to influence testimony to me," Litman continued. "Not as of now part of the indictment, but you can be sure it will figure in the case. And it only increases the pressure on DeOliveira to plead guilty and cooperate, which he really should do."
The report also has similarities to a claim former aide Cassidy Hutchinson made in her book, "Enough," When she was called to testify before the House Select Committee investigating the 2020 election and Jan. 6 attack, she said her lawyer made it clear that Trump thought she was "very loyal" and a "true believer."
