Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said “this is game over” for former President Trump in the classified and sensitive documents case against him after the release of the tape that appears to show Trump discussing documents he had in his possession.
Weissmann told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell on Monday that the public should remember that prosecutors for special counsel Jack Smith, who is overseeing the investigation, have had the tape of Trump discussing documents he did not declassify before it was publicized.
He said Smith’s team has likely interviewed everyone who was in the room with Trump from the recording except the former president himself. He said this would allow prosecutors to have all accounts of what happened while Trump was speaking.
“And so, the big picture here, I think for people is … this is game over if you are following the facts and the law,” Weissmann said.
CNN was the first to publicly release the recording of Trump discussing the classified documents during a July 2021 meeting at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J. The conversation had been described in the indictment filed against Trump earlier this month.
The discussion happened during an interview with an author and book publisher who were working on a memoir for former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, according to the indictment. Two Trump staffers were also present.
On the recording, Trump is heard discussing pieces of classified information about a potential planned attack on Iran.
Weissmann said Trump is not charged with dissemination of national defense information, only that he continued to possess it, but that could be proven, and the tape is “absolutely clear.”
“This is a question now of simply: Will the government get a trial before the general election, will a jury actually follow the law and the facts and will the electorate follow the facts and care? That’s really what this is about,” he said.
Weissmann added that the tape is only one piece of a “massive mountain” of evidence against Trump.
Trump claimed after the tape was publicized that it exonerates him, but it appears to show him recognizing how the classification process works and that he was continuing to hold onto national defense information.
Trump has been charged with 37 counts in the case, including 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information in violation of the Espionage Act. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.