BREAKING: Another possible Trump indictment SURGES into spotlight

you're watching the legal breakdown so Glenn I want to talk about this bombshell audio recording there was an interesting quote from Trump's attorney Alina Haba on air she said that if the leaked audio recording was actually incriminating against Trump then why wasn't it listed as a charge in the indictment and that actually did strike me so why wasn't Trump charged for it in the indictment yeah it sounds like a good question but it sounds like Haba is involved in some misdirection once the indictment in Florida was unsealed the Federal indictment brought by Jack Smith we saw information about this audio recording in Bedminster New Jersey where Donald Trump was talking openly about classified documents and National Defense information those are the magic words that give rise to a charge under our nation's Espionage laws the Espionage Act so we saw information about it in the indictment and of course since we have heard the audio recording for ourselves and it's pretty darn appalling but because that conduct happened in New Jersey to the extent it constitutes a crime that crime would have to be charged in New Jersey that is where the federal prosecutors would have what's called venue venue's a fancy term for where is the right place to bring a charge ordinarily it's where that crime occurred so what Jack Smith did is he dropped information about it in the Florida indictment why because it's relevant to Donald Trump's course of conduct so let me do a quick law school class there's something called Federal rule of evidence 404 B what does that stand for uncharged misconduct cannot typically be brought in as evidence at trial it's called the propensity rule prosecutors can't just throw a whole bunch of dirt into the mix saying look at all of this other bad stuff the defendant did even though he's not charged with it because there's a rule that says you can't introduce evidence that somebody has the propensity to commit a crime unless that evidence falls into a certain exception so you can put uncharged misconduct like what Donald Trump did in New Jersey into the Florida indictment if it's relevant to show a common scheme or plan if it's relevant to show Motive knowledge or intent if it's relevant to show that there was no accident or no mistake involved in the the defendant's conduct and frankly this evidence fits all of those exceptions because what it makes clear is not just that Donald Trump was unlawfully retaining classified information but he says on the tape I could have Declassified this when I was President I didn't I can't declassify it now therefore it's still secret all of that will become relevant in the Florida prosecution but it if it was going to be charged as a crime it would have to be charged up in New Jersey okay so with that said does that suggest that Jack Smith will indict Trump in New Jersey as part of this classified documents case man that's the sixty four thousand dollar question Jack in my opinion Brian Jack Smith will indict this in New Jersey if he believes he has enough evidence to prove the crime Beyond A Reasonable Doubt and you may say we heard the tape we heard Donald Trump say I've got this classified document here that the military prepared for me and gave to me regarding a possible U.S attack on Iran sounds pretty damning right sounds like proof Beyond A Reasonable Doubt here's the challenge the challenge is there were a bunch of other people in the room and I'm sure all of those other people have been placed before the grand jury by Jack Smith what did they testify to they were all Donald Trump loyalists in one form or another might they have said you know what I saw a bunch of magazines and newspaper articles on his desk but I never saw this document that he alleged he had in his hand and he was referring to here's the other thing um maybe Donald Trump was puffing maybe he didn't have a class classified document in his hand he was just lying about that we all know that any time there is a suggestion Donald Trump is lying you can probably conclude Donald Trump is lying um so it might all sound really damning to us but only Jack Smith knows exactly what evidence he has and if that evidence proves Beyond A Reasonable Doubt Donald Trump committed crimes in New Jersey that remains to be seen if he has the evidence though Brian I would bet my buck that he will indict Donald Trump federally in New Jersey but we can be clear that he he knows what he has right now so if he has that Iran attack document then only he would know but he hasn't or he doesn't right now correct so yeah Jack Smith either has that document or he doesn't and let's tease out both of those possibilities if Jack Smith has it now we would want to know where he got it from did he get it from Bedminster or did Donald Trump perhaps transport it back to Mar-A-Lago and somehow he got it from Mar-A-Lago those are going to be important details to figure out where Jack Smith can bring criminal charges here's the thing if he doesn't have it and if Jack Smith knows that such a document was generated by General Millie at the request of Donald Trump all of which you know has been reported in one form or another so if he knows the document actually existed and he doesn't have it what does that mean does Donald Trump still have it did Donald Trump dispose of it I mean I think either way you go Jack Smith has it Jack Smith doesn't have it it is potentially bad for Donald Trump now Glenn how would this work would if if ultimately Jack Smith does have this document and he decides to bring an indictment in New Jersey would we see an entirely new indictment and trial in New Jersey or would this just all fall under the umbrella of the same classified documents case just this elements of it is in a different venue yeah these are great questions these are like Advanced Crim law Crim procedure questions so here's what would happen I suspect um Jack Smith would bring an indictment in New Jersey he would directly charge the crimes associated with that document and that recording that we have all now heard where Donald Trump is referencing and apparently showing or referencing the information in that document in violation of our nation's Espionage law so he would charge any and all crimes associated with that and anything else Donald Trump may have done at Bedminster that would constitute a crime then what I suspect you would also see is some of the information from the Florida Federal indictment to try to use for the same reasons we see the New Jersey stuff in the Florida indictment being used for certain appropriate reasons Under The Rules of Evidence so I think it might be a smaller indictment in New Jersey and it will probably include kind of a subset of what we see in the Florida indictment but really right now Brian the wide open question is what crimes did Donald Trump commit at Bedminster and of those crimes which one which ones do Jack Smith believe he can prove Beyond A Reasonable Doubt those are the ones we may see indicted and let me kind of finish the thought by saying well what happens if Donald Trump is a Federal indictment in New Jersey and a Federal indictment in Florida all involving the mishandling of classified documents then Donald Trump could actually file a motion to consolidate those two cases and have them tried in one place um where would he want to have them try you know I'm gonna guess it would be Florida with his you know his judge Aileen Cannon so then it becomes a tactical question with respect to what Jack Smith what position he wants to take does he want to force Donald Trump the two trials does he want to argue that consolidating the two cases and trying them in one Forum would be fine you know these are all kind of Big Ticket tactical decisions that the attorneys will have to make in the future and I mean to your point it does give Jack Smith the opportunity to bring forward this case and kind of hedge his bets a little bit where he doesn't have a judge like alien Cannon who could uh who could throw a wrench into the entire thing um Glenn I do want to finish off with this Trump has been out in public throwing a bunch of defenses at the wall to see what sticks um they're often contradictory they often don't make any sense can that hurt him in the trial by showing that he doesn't have any one legitimate defense that he's sticking to or is he free to say whatever he wants in public and then the trial only concerns things that are said during the trial yeah great question he's free to say whatever he wants in public and everything he says Canon will be used against him in a court of law so I have had defendants let me use a a relatable example a murder case I've had defense attorneys present the following defenses in a murder case my client did not kill the victim um but if my client did Kill the victim he acted in self-defense but if my client did Kill the victim and didn't act in self-defense he was insane at the time you know those kind of conflicting defenses are ordinarily laughed out of court by juries as well they should be right each one detracts from the other what Donald Trump has done is every time he says something like um yeah this document here it's classified I didn't declassify it when I was president and I can't declassify it now what does that do that takes away a defense that his attorneys otherwise could have presented and here is the defense that they could have presented Donald Trump has famously said several times that if I take documents from the White House as I'm leaving the presidency they become automatically Declassified now first of all that's not a thing factually but that really doesn't answer the question entirely because Donald Trump could have said in my mind I thought everything was automatically Declassified when I took it from the Oval Office when I left the presidency and that would have gone to Donald Trump's Criminal Intent so that would have still been a viable if not defense of viable Avenue for his defense attorneys to argue but guess what he has now taken that away from them so you bet everything he says that conflicts with something else he said takes another Avenue away from his defense attorneys frankly he's got nothing left but hoping for a hung jury at this point all right well proving yet again that Donald Trump's worst enemy in all of this is Donald Trump so we'll continue to stay on top of this especially to see if anything happens in New Jersey so if you want to stay on top of legal news make sure to subscribe the links are right here on the screen I'm Brian Tyler Cohen and I'm Glenn kirschner you're watching the legal breakdown foreign [Music]

Channel: Brian Tyler Cohen

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Keywords: Brian Tyler Cohen, Trump, Republicans, Democrats, brian cohen, politics, news, trump indictment, jack smith

Id: OElPsu-e8vI

Length: 11min 29sec (689 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 29 2023