Legal analysts say the star witness against Donald Trump just might be Trump himself as new audio of the former president undermines many of his own claims.
And that could ultimately lead to prison time.
CNN on Monday obtained audio of Trump not only claiming he had classified documents in his possession after leaving the White House but also admitting that they had not been declassified before he left office.
“See, as president I could have declassified it,” Trump said in the clip. “Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”
Trump earlier this month was indicted on 37 counts related to the alleged mishandling of classified materials and obstructing government efforts to retrieve that material.
He has pleaded not guilty and publicly insisted that he had the right to take any documents he wanted and that he declassified everything he took automatically.
The new audio indicates he knew otherwise ― and lawyers, lawmakers, former prosecutors, historians and other legal analysts said on Twitter that’s bad news for Trump’s defence: