Now that CNN has published leaked audio featuring Donald Trump
incriminating himself and making it clear that he has classified
documents that he could have declassified as president but
could no longer declassify since he's no longer in office.
Some are wondering how that leaked audio went out in the first place,
where did it come from, who leaked it?
And Steve Doocy over at Fox News has a fascinating theory,
to say the least, let's watch.
>> Trump posted on True Social, the deranged special prosecutor Jack Smith,
working in conjunction with the DOJ and FBI illegally leaked and
spun a tape and transcript of me, which is actually an exoneration.
So, you know what?
If Trump thinks it's an exoneration of him,
perhaps somebody on his side actually did leaking to CNN and Maggie Haberman.
Trump's lawyers actually knew about this tape since March when one of Trump's
aides, a woman by the name of Margot Martin was asked about it during
an appearance before the grand jury, and
then the government subpoenaed her copy of the tape.
So the tapes are floating around on the Trump side,
we don't know exactly where it came from.
>> So this might sound outlandish and crazy,
except Trump did specify that he feels that leaked audio exonerates him.
And honestly, this reminds me of when Trump was being impeached the first time.
After withholding congressionally appropriated military funding to Ukraine
in an effort to engage in a quid pro quo and get Volodymyr Zelensky to announce
some sham investigation into Trump's political opponent, Joe Biden.
He claimed there was no quid pro quo, he released the transcript of the phone
call he had with Volodymyr Zelensky, he's like it was the perfect call.
So is it far fetched that Trump would leak this himself or
someone on his team would leak this themselves in an effort to exonerate him?
I don't think it's that far fetched.
And remember, after CNN broke this story,
he was asked about it by a Fox News reporter.
And here's how he reacted to us all hearing what he did and
incriminating himself in that audio.
>> You're not concerned then with your own voice on those recordings?
>> My voice was fine, what did I say wrong on those recordings?
I didn't even see the recording.
All I know is I did nothing wrong.
We had a lot of papers, a lot of paper stacked up.
In fact, you could hear the rustle of the paper.
And nobody said I did anything wrong other than the fake news,
which, of course, is Fox too.
>> Are there any other recordings that we should be concerned of?
>> I don't know of any recordings that you should be concerned with,
because I don't do things wrong, I do things right.
I'm a legitimate person.
>> He's a legitimate person, Cenk,
do you think there's a possibility he leaked this himself?
>> Totally, so I think that's a really good theory by Steve Doocy.
Look at that, agreeing with a Fox News host.
So there's excellent evidence that the source for Maggie Haberman,
generally speaking, throughout Trump's administration was Donald J Trump.
>> My God, that is not something that speaks well of Maggie Haberman.
>> Well, I mean, look, honestly, you take any mainstream media reporter and
the President is leaking information to them, they're gonna take it.
100% of them will take it, and will not tell you that it's Trump and
will then put it in a slightly favorable light to Trump, okay?
>> Maggie Haberman reporting was not favorable towards Trump.
>> No, no, no, it's actually if you read some of the analysis of it, yeah,
the stuff is damaging,
cuz Trump is leaking damaging things about himself, right?
>> That's true, yeah.
>> But she puts it in a light that's slightly favorable, okay?
And by the way, if you don't know that,
it's not throwing Maggie Haberman under a bus.
Almost every reporter in mainstream media does that, so be careful what you read.
They give special favors to the people who gave them the quotes, and
the information, and the leaks, and they frame it positive to them, okay?
That's a very well-known part of media coverage, which is, by the way, gross,
and they never clarify that.
All right, anyways, so I'm back to this.
Maggie Haberman is one of the people who had this leak,
thereby leading you to think maybe it was Trump.
And so now, why does he do it?
Why does he leak against himself?
That's so weird, right?
Number one, he believes that there is no such thing as bad press.
That as long as you're dominating the media cycle, you're winning.
Even at this late date with all the atrocities, and the criminal actions,
and the insanity, he's leading by 30 points in the Republican primary.
So are you sure he's wrong about that?
I'm not so sure he's wrong about that, okay?
And so DeSantis isn't in the news, Chris Christie, nobody else is in the news, but
Trump cuz he's leaking his own stuff.
Number two, this is actually a well-known strategy, not just for Trump, but
in all politics.
You leak something ahead of time to get ahead of the story, right?
And you frame it in the way that you want it.
If someone else leaks it, they frame it in a way against you.
If you leak it, you frame it in the most positive way that you can, and
your compliant reporter goes along with that, okay?
And then there's other possible reasons, he's nuts, and [LAUGH] that's
why he's giving stuff that's against him, but he thinks it's great.
One of the things that he thinks exonerates him is, well,
we're joking around and it's a friendly conversation.
How could I be giving classified information in a friendly conversation?
I know, but guys, a lot of people believe the things he says no matter how absurd.
And they'll hear that tape, and they'll hear people laughing, and snickering, and
shuffling of the papers and they'll say, just like he said, there was a shuffling
of the papers and everybody's being friendly, come on, that can't be so bad.
So that's what he's doing right now.
And the last part of it is, he's never won in court, ever.
Trump university, Trump charities, the taxes, he always pays the fine,
>> The election.
>> Yeah, the election, 60 court cases didn't present one piece of evidence.
He can't win in court, cuz he's a pathological liar.
So he always tries to win in the court of public opinion.
And if you leak first and then you attack and you go, perfect call, perfect call,
exoneration, rustling of papers, friendly, and you repeat it 2000 times maniacally.
I'm a legitimate person, I'm a legitimate person, I'm a legitimate person.
It works for at least 30% of this country.
That tactic is stunningly effective, so I think Doocy's on to something.