Title: Inside Politics With John King - Trump YT vpx
Channel: 1 - CNN some new CNN reporting on a witness whose
testimony would be an important building block in any classified documents case against Donald
Trump.
A key former white house federal official toll prosecutors trump knew the classification
process and followed it all the times in office.
This is the latest indication that prosecutors are seeking evidence suggesting trump understood
the process for declassifying documents.
That could undercut the claims that he automatically declassified everything.
He took with him to mar-a-lago.
Breaking this reporting and joining the conversation is Zach Cohen, Paula Reid and shan Wu are
back with us let's talk about why it's so important.
This official who served in both trump and the Biden administrations, a careerist flr
with the class few indication process, has spoken to prosecutors about what Donald
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prosecutors about what Donald Trump knew, what Donald Trump was told, while he was in
the white house about the process he understood the rules.
Plus spoke don mcgahn, big players, smart people, close people to Donald Trump, they
all knew the process and talked to trump about it as well.
So what trump says publicly contradicts what you have learned here.
>> Exactly.
This is a career official.
It's somebody who advised the trump and Obama administrations on the classification process.
It's somebody with direct knowledge of how those two administrations followed the process
and even cited specific examples about times that the trump administration followed the
correct process.
So it's really interesting to hear what this official was asked by prosecutors in both
different investigations.
In the trump probe, prosecutors were really aggressively focused on anything that had
to do with firsthand interactions with trump, especially about conversations related to
the declassification process.
We have seen that play out in
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We have seen that play out in the times of this interview.
We have seen official gos in and testify before the grand jury about the declassification
process and about their conversations with trump.
Compared to the Biden interview, it was very different.
This official went in and it was about the mechanics of these boxes.
How did they get packed, who packed them and how did they make their way to Delaware.
Very different areas of focus.
Trump trying to get a sense of his mind set, and Biden, they want to hear more about logistics.
>> Correct if I'm wrong, trump oes seems to be more serious.
The Biden thing is a mistake.
It was something bad and wrong happened.
But the context, the scope of the trump investigation.
>> The Biden interview did not match the intensity of the trump interview at all.
He's really characterized them as different tones.
>> Circle back for more details in a minute.
The case you're trying to build against trump, we focus all the time former chief of staff
is a grand jury witness, former spokesman, but if it you're
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spokesman, but if it you're building a case, sometimes it's the less glamorous witness
who is can do the nuts and bolts.
He knew the rules.
He was reminded of the rules.
>> Absolutely.
And that's what they have been doing.
They are building that kind of foundation as to his mind settle.
And the point is you can tell so much not only from the intensity, but the kinds of
questions.
If you're focusing on mind set, there's personal exposure here.
If you're focusing on factual questions who are packed the boxes, you're looking all the
is there a problem with the way this stuff gets transmitted and preserved, not did somebody
commit a crime.
>> We showed the officials.
These are not nobodies.
These are senior people, two of them are lawyers.
Nothing approaching that trump had that standing order that I could snap.
Nothing approached that.
I can't imagine anyone that worked at the white house after me would have shrugged their
shoulders and allowed that to go
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shoulders and allowed that to go forward.
Kelly making the point that we understood the rules ask we were not casual about them.
Therefore, the process should have been followed.
>> Have you ever heard of the declassification order?
They have never heard it.
Clearly, they have never seen it, it likely doesn't exist.
It really undercuts so many of the public explanations and public defenses that the
trump team has put forth.
He's trying to draw this false equivalency between the trump documents and the one for
president Biden and the one that has been closed into pence.
We know from our reporting, even though Biden and trump are facing the special counsel investigation
swoo the possible mishandling of documents, those are different in terms of volume.
Dozens of documents versus over 100.
Also the conduct.
Cooperation.
Possible obstruction.
The types of questions prosecutors are asking, they are just asking about boxes and packing.
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packing.
The trump lawyers probably wish those were the questions they were asking about that
investigation.
And it's clear they believe the trump is in the court of public opinion.
He didn't know the process or have to follow it.
It's significant because it shows not only our reporting, but this is the testimony that
they are getting in both cases from an expert.
>> And the expert' testimony helps them about what was happening.
We know the witness who had eyes on so much of what trump did.
The former adviser, and a trump loyalist.
Based on what the expert says and the significance of those witnesses, connect the dots.
>> We have seen the special counsel in the trump investigation really sort of follow
the adviser in the interview as a road map for the types of evidence they have been working
to secure in the time since.
They have been pushing to get these records from the national archives that include communications
about the
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communications about the declsification process, which wh did he cls if I.
We know they brought in several senior trump officials, including Robert o'brien, who told
the grand jury that we had conversations with trump specifically, directly, and we told
him and made clear there was a process for declassifying things.
You can't wish it to be true.
The grand jury is hearing the testimony that this former official laid out as important
months before.
>> Critical reporting in the