Now let's move on to
a significant development
of the special counsel's investigation
into Donald Trump's
handling of classified documents.
The New York Times today
reporting federal prosecutors
have obtained
the confidential cooperation of a person
who has worked for him at Mar a Lago.
The report
adds investigators are looking into
whether the former
president ordered
a box of sensitive material
moved out of a storage room.
Let's break this down with us, CNN's
Evan Perez and the former assistant U.S.
attorney, L.A. Holding.
Evan, let me start with you.
You were here just yesterday.
We have talked about this,
that our team has done some great
reporting on this.
About the question
the surveillance video about aides
being brought in to the grand jury.
Now, The New York Times
saying essentially
that somebody internally
is cooperating with them.
What's the significance
Well, you know, again, if it's The Times
didn't seem to know much more
than what they printed in that story.
And, you know,
it's been a bit of a
of a parlor
game inside
Trump world
about whether there is a cooperator.
A lot of people
believe that there is one.
And there's a lot of suspicion
as to who that is and what do they know.
There's also
a group of of
them that also say that
there is nobody cooperating
and that they're just using this
to pressure different people.
So there is a lot of anxiety
inside Trump world.
The importance of a cooperative,
though, is that, you know,
if there is someone
who has information perhaps,
you know, photographs
of of things
that the prosecutors want to know about.
That's a big deal for the president.
And you know what
he may have to face
when prosecutors finally make a decision.
A cooperator is key to,
you know, getting,
you know, especially in the Trump
world, where,
as you know, John, you know,
the former president
has been very successful in batting away
all of these
investigations simply
because people have stuck by him
except for Michael Cohen.
So we'll see whether this person has it
significant enough
to make a difference
to this investigation.
Also has a history of saying things
that turn out to flatly be not true.
He's not a witness here at the moment.
We hope to continue that conversation.
From your perspective as a prosecutor
and you're inside your war room,
if you will, try to build your case
and you have some videotape,
maybe you have this witness, that witness
in another witness.
How important
is it to have a cooperating witness,
somebody you can circle back
to after each new witness comes in,
each new documentary
piece of evidence comes in
as a sounding board, if you will?
Well, it's vital, John.
The number one
way that federal prosecutors make cases
is through cooperating witnesses,
if you want to get inside.
You need
someone who's been on the inside.
But I think The Times is reporting
while vital here, leaves
open a very important question
of what exactly do they mean
by a person who's cooperating,
because the way that term is used
by federal prosecutors
means somebody who has been charged
with a crime,
who's agreed to plead guilty
and in exchange
get a sentencing reduction.
Now, that's one thing,
but it also could mean
just a person
who's a bystander, who's a witness
who's providing information.
Those are two very different things.
But either way,
if you can get someone on the inside
who can guide you through this
and they can be a linchpin of your case.
Ali, before I let you go,
I want to come back to another piece
in The New York Times
story is interesting to say the least.
One of the previously
unreported subpoenas
for the Trump Organization
SAT records pertaining to Mr.
Trump's dealings
with a Saudi backed
professional golf venture
known as Live Golf,
which is holding tournaments
at some of Mr. Trump's golf resorts.
What might this be about?
I ask in the context of somebody
who covered Bill Clinton back in the day.
And Ken Starr's
investigation
of a real estate transaction
in western Arkansas
called Whitewater
became Monica Lewinsky and more.
Yeah.
So the question here
is, are we looking
at sort of the inverse of that,
something that started with documents
and will expand out
into the financial universe?
Or is this request to live golf
sort of confined to the ongoing Mar
a Lago investigation?
Are there
documents that were found in Mar
a Lago
that might somehow relate to live golf?
But you're right, John,
I had the same reaction.
Are we looking
at a substantial expansion here
like we saw several times
with Ken Starr,
or are we looking at some nuance,
some important nuance
that falls within what
they're already looking at down
in Florida?
For me, for me,
that one of the most important
parts of that story was the discussion
of the surveillance state.
The Times says it's possible
that there's tape,
there's parts of the tape
or parts of parts of surveillance video
that might be missing.
That is a big deal
potentially for the investigators.
How did that happen
and was it intentional?
Because as you have said
repeatedly, they're looking at
how the documents are handled,
but they're also
looking at the obstruction,
which is the biggest part of this. Right.
The biggest problematic part of this.
All right.
We'll continue to bring you
more as we get it.
Evan Perez, L.A., grateful
for that new reporting and insights.