Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann on Thursday said Donald Trump could dig himself into a much deeper hole if he misuses information he learns during the next phase of the Justice Department’s classified documents case against him.
Special counsel Jack Smith’s office made a court filing on Wednesday indicating that it had turned over evidence supporting its case to the former president’s legal team, including grand jury testimony of witnesses who will testify for the government at trial.
Legal experts say the early and proactive decision to hand over discovery materials suggests that the prosecution has a strong case and is doing everything in its power to obtain a speedy trial.
“This is exactly what you want our government to be doing,” Weissmann told MSNBC’s Joy Reid of the move. “But that does mean that Donald Trump has a greater opportunity to try and tamper with witnesses.”
He added: “Trump would obviously have to be caught doing this, but it can happen. And then the consequence is, you know, he’ll be running for the Republican [presidential] nomination from inside of a jail cell.”
Weissmann noted that he worked as a prosecutor in the federal tax and money laundering case against former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort, who was jailed in 2018 over witness tampering ahead of his own trial. Another Trump ally, Roger Stone, was convicted in 2019 of lying to Congress and witness tampering.
Trump has been accused of witness tampering in the past, as well as using threatening language in social media posts that could intimidate potential jurors and witnesses. The House committee that investigated the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol suggested last year that Trump or his allies had contacted witnesses to urge them not to testify to the committee.
Watch the MSNBC interview below: