Following a new report that former president Donald Trump was caught on tape talking about classified documents he had in his possession, legal experts are pretty confident this might be the nail in the coffin of the Justice Department’s investigation. According to MSNBC legal analyst Andrew Weissman, the existence of that tape makes charges under the Espionage Act all but certain.
Weissman’s thoughts came on Thursday’s episode of “Morning Joe,” as he was brought in to discuss CNN’s report on Wednesday that federal prosecutors now have a recording from a 2021 meeting, in which Trump explicitly acknowledges that he kept a classified document about a potential attack on Iran. This, of course, would fly in the face of Trump’s repeated claim that he declassified everything he had (sometimes just with his mind).
“I think if this audio tape exists, this is not a question of if there are going to be charges,” Weissman said. “It’s just a question of when. The proof that we have learned, just publicly, is so strong, and Jack Smith is such a competent and aggressive prosecutor, it’s inconceivable to me that this would not be charged.”
Weissman added that the weight of this recording comes from the fact that it contains an admission from Trump himself that he committed a crime, and purportedly contains enough information to be a form of dissemination.
“Doesn’t matter if it’s secret, top secret, it’s classified. That itself is a crime,” Weissman explained.
You can watch Weissman’s full analysis in the video above.
