correspondent Carrie Johnson,
thank you.
Geoff: For legal analysis of the
charges Mr. Trump faces, we turn
to own a Hathaway and jail
jaffer.
Thank you both for being here.
I want to start by reading from
the indictment.
I want to start with page two
because we learn precisely what
Donald Trump had in his
possession.
Information regarding defense
and weapons capabilities of the
U.S. And foreign countries, U.S.
Nuclear programs, potential
vulnerabilities of the U.S. And
its allies to military attack
and plans for possible
retaliation in response to a
foreign attack.
Given the scope of the
allegations, what strikes you?
>> 102 documents found at the
trump mar-a-lago residence after
he turned over the documents to
the FBI saying he had returned
all the documents to the
government.
In the indictment itself, 31
documents listed.
Of that, 10 were sensitive
information.
Another eight special access.
These are the most sensitive
documents the government has.
Donald Trump has them sitting
around mar-a-lago, withholds
them even after being asked for
them by the government.
That's a problem.
Geoff: Page eight of the
indictment shows the departments
and agencies from which the
documents originated.
What are the national security
implications here given the way
that they were stored and to
whom Mr. Trump allegedly showed
the?
>> It's really extraordinary.
The kinds of secrets that are in
these documents are among the
most closely held secrets U.S.
Government has.
They are information relevant to
ongoing preparations for
military operations, documents
that relate to the military
capabilities of our foreign
allies and adversaries.
The U.S. Nuclear program.
It's really the most tightly
held secrets the U.S. Government
has an information that could do
extremely serious harm to U.S.
National security and the range
of agencies mentioned in this
document gives you an idea of
how serious this really is.
Geoff: We heard Lisa report that
two of Mr. Trump's attorneys
resigned.
We also learned the case will be
overseen at least initially by
the judge who made a number of
controversial rulings in the
early stages of this
investigation and had to be
overruled the 11th circuit for
overstepping.
>> Obviously it says something
not good for president trump.
-- Just yesterday was on CNN
defending the president.
We don't know what it means, but
it means something.
I think we can expect the judge
to be fair.
She has a reputation for being
fair.
That being said, she did enter
some rulings that were
controversial and ultimately was
reversed by 11th circuit and
probably understands now that
the court is watching this case
closely and will keep an eye on
it.
Geoff: Mr. Trump has been saying
for months that he was within
his rights to take these
documents.
He suggested that he effectively
declassified them with his mind.
>> If you are the president of
the United States you can
declassified just saying it's
declassified.
It doesn't have to be a process.
You are the president.
You make that decision.
Geoff: Fast forward what CNN
reported.
They obtained a transcript of a
July 2021 meeting where he is
discussing a classified document
about attacking Iran.
The transcript is also included
in the indictment.
He is saying of this document, I
just found it, is not it
amazing.
Except it is highly confidential
secret information.
How damaging is that potential
he?
>> This is extraordinarily
damaging for the president.
It really shows that even if he
claims that he declassified
these documents somehow by
thinking it and not actually
notifying anyone, which doesn't
actually constitute actual
declassification, but let's just
imagine we ran with his
argument.
He is admitting outright that he
knows that he didn't declassify
these documents and there are
documents in possession -- in
his possession that remain
classified and he can't show to
anyone because they remain
secret.
He's undercutting one of the key
arguments he's been trying to
make all along.
He's undercutting his own
lawyers that are going to try to
make arguments that he didn't
violate the espionage act.
He's making an admission on
tape.
It's very hard for the defense.
>> The idea that you can
declassify something just by
thinking about it is completely
wrong.
The president does have broad
declassification authority.
We saw him take a picture with
his iPhone of a highly
classified image and tweet it
out.
Once you leave office, you don't
have the authority.
This tape has him admitting it.
He knew it, he still showed it
to the folks at that meeting.
He said, do not get too close, I
can't show you this, it's
classified.
Geoff: This has drawn
comparisons to Hillary Clinton's
use of a private email server.
Now president Joe Biden.
What makes this case different?
>> A few things.
Hillary Clinton obviously did
the wrong thing having that
email server.
President Biden shouldn't have
had those documents at his
facilities.
In the case of Biden and pens --
pence, both own up to it.
There was some effort, the
server was wiped.
In the case of president trump,
the documents were withheld.
They even had attorneys sign a
document saying we have turned
over everything and then we
found another 100 to documents.
Boxes were moved.
That evinces a decision to
withhold documents.
That's why these charges are
there.
It's the facts about what
happened late out in the
indictment.
If these facts are proven, it's
going to be very hard for a jury
not to convict.
Geoff: We expect Mr. Trump to
appear on Tuesday in court.
Help us understand why the
special counsel chose to bring
these charges in Florida and
what will you be watching for?
>> The reason these were brought
in Florida is because the
charges all center around the
retention of the documents in
the decision to obstruct justice
and misrepresent the information
trump help.
All of these are things that
happened in Florida.
What's interesting is that the
charges do not include the
removal of these documents from
the white house.
They don't have anything to do
with the transport of the
documents to Florida.
They really focus on the holding
of those documents in Florida
and what the president did after
the federal government
continually asked for those
documents.
There was repeated requests for
these documents in the president
in Florida continually refused
to hand those over.
Everything in this indictment
took place in Florida and that's
why the cases is being brought
in Florida.
Even though they certainly knew
this was going to lead to a less
favorable jury almost certainly.
It's a more heavily Republican
area than they would have had if
they had brought the charges in
Washington, D.C., but they had
to do it because it is conduct
that took place in Florida.
Geoff: What's your assessment of
the chores -- choice of venue?
>> By having in Florida, they
may trade something off at the
end of the day they get the case
to move forward as quickly as
possible.
The defendant in this case has a
right to a speedy trial so we
will move this thing forward.
I have no doubt that president
trump's legal team will try to
-- you have a sitting president
whose justice department is
prosecuting the leading
candidate on the others.
This is a politically fraught
investigation prosecution.
It's a real challenge.
Geoff: Thank you both.