The Justice
Department's Mar a Lago documents case,
and it could land two senior
Trump Organization
executives and longtime
close associates of the former president
in the hot seat.
Specifically, there's exclusive
new reporting
that special counsel
Jack Smith is looking into
how the Trump Organization,
how the company handled
surveillance video from Mar a Lago
and that the grand jury
is expected to hear tomorrow
from the father and son executives
at the Trump Organization.
Two guys
named Matthew Calamari,
senior and junior,
CNN senior crime
and justice reporter Caitlin
Paul Lance has the exclusive,
joins us now.
So what more are you learning about
these latest moves by Jack Smith?
Well, Anderson,
Paula Reid
and I were able to confirm
from many sources that it is quite clear
prosecutors are asking questions
about the handling of surveillance tapes
and conversations
that would have taken place
about those four surveillance tapes
at a time last year
when the Justice Department
wanted access to them.
So we're talking about certain
surveillance tapes at Mar
a Lago in Florida
that would have been owned
by the Trump organization
Donald Trump's resort.
And these were tapes
that the Justice Department
was demanding that they see last year
as they were looking at
whether there were documents
being kept in Florida.
And so
they sent a subpoena for those tapes.
And now we know the prosecutors
are looking at that episode of Time.
This is before the FBI went in
and search the property,
because on those tapes, ultimately,
they were able to see boxes being moved.
But the questions
now are about the tapes themselves.
It's just another leg
of this investigation.
And there is going to be grand
jury activity.
We know tomorrow where the two men,
Matthew Calamari
and his son, Matthew Calamari, Jr,
are expected
to be testifying to the grand jury.
The column
whose names have popped up
on and off
throughout the last couple of years.
Can you just remind our viewers
about the role
that the column was play
in the former president's organization,
the Trump Organization?
Yeah.
I mean, these are two very senior people,
very people
who are very close to Donald Trump
in his business. Empire.
They're working out of New York.
Matthew Calamari, senior.
He's an executive vice president
and the chief operating officer.
He became a person of interest
in that New York investigation
around the Trump Organization
and their business dealings.
He's somebody whose
lifestyle, his apartment,
his car is subsidized
by the Trump Organization
and his son, Matthew Calamari Junior
is the director of security
for the Trump Organization.
And so these two people
clearly are the people
that would be responsible
for these surveillance tapes
that are owned by the organization
and then ultimately were turned over
to the Justice Department.
CNN previously reported that
another close aide to the former
president was seen on camera moving boxes
containing documents out of the Mar
a Lago storage closet.
To be clear,
what we're talking about
tonight
is a separate inquiry
into how the surveillance footage itself
was handled, right?
That's right, Anderson.
So we are getting a taste, though, that
that person that person is named
Walt, not a he works for Donald Trump.
He's on his payroll down in Mar a Lago.
He travels with Donald Trump quite often.
This is all sort of
it may have a connection. Right.
So Walt
not was seen on those surveillance
tapes, moving boxes with another employee
of Donald Trump's in Mar a Lago.
And we do know that the calamari is
one of the things
that they're being asked about
is potential conversations
with people in the Trump world,
people like potentially whatnot.
And we were able to confirm
that there was at least a text message
between him and Matthew Calamari Senior
that is part of this
this portion of the inquiry.
So there's a lot of things
that could be potential obstruction cases
that the Justice Department
is investigating.
The special counsel is looking at.
This is another leg of that possibility
of an obstruction case Anderson.
Paul Ince, appreciate it. Thanks.
Joining me
now, CNN senior legal
analyst and former federal prosecutor
Elie Honig.
So how big a deal is it?
The special counsel's office
reportedly
looking into the surveillance footage
issue.
Well, Anderson, this tells me once again
that prosecutors here are
squarely focused
on potential obstruction of justice.
Now, it's important to understand why
this surveillance video is so important,
because the underlying case
about the handling
of these classified documents
really depends on
where were these documents stored,
where were the actual boxes,
who had access and where they moved.
This video footage
from inside Mar
a Lago would presumably be the best
possible evidence of that.
They understand one
really important detail
from Caitlin's reporting
is that this is a new round of subpoenas.
And that tells me that prosecutors
in what they had already gathered
saw something about this footage
that made them say,
hold on, there's a problem here.
Now we need to dig into this.
What kind of evidence would
the special counsel need in order
to send out this latest
round of subpoenas
so they would need some evidence.
They we need some basis
to send the subpoenas.
They would need
something that indicated to them
either
that some of this footage
was tampered with or was withheld.
What types of evidence
are they looking for?
I think the testimony
from the two individuals
we've been talking about,
the two calamari
is going to be crucial
to figure out
who downloaded essentially
who access that video footage,
who was responsible
for turning it over to DOJ and then.
Is there a gap there?
So how concerned
do you think the former president
would be about the calamari
going before the grand jury tomorrow?
So as Kaitlin's reporting
reminds us,
they are absolutely insiders
in the Trump.
Org.
On the other hand,
they have shown repeatedly
that they're loyal to Donald Trump.
They refuse to flip on him
in the various financial investigations
that were happening in the state.
So we'll see.
I mean,
I presume prosecutors
have real tangible evidence
that they can cross-examine or question
these individuals
with in front of the grand jury.
They're under oath.
Prosecutors,
I don't think, are going
to bring these two in
and just hope for the best.
I think they're going
to have the goods to back up
whatever they need to ask them.
All right, Ali Henry.