All the president’s legal woes got worse last night
The tsunami of lies in the town hall last night makes it hard to isolate all the atrocities. But you can be sure that prosecutors in all of his pending legal cases were taking meticulous notes of everything he said. Igor Derysh at Salon lays out the reactions of some of the TV lawyers to what Trump said last night.
Former President Donald Trump may have provided additional evidence in multiple investigations during his CNN town hall event on Wednesday, legal experts say.
Trump repeatedly lied during the town hall that the election was “rigged,” that Georgia “owed” him votes, that he had the right to take classified documents to Mar-a-Lago and that he does not know E. Jean Carroll — the writer who was awarded $5 million a day earlier after it found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation.
“All three ongoing criminal cases got new evidence tonight against Trump,” tweeted national security attorney Bradley Moss. “He is confessing on live television.”
During one point, moderator Kaitlan Collins pressed Trump on whether he showed the classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago to anyone else.
“Not really,” Trump replied.
Collins questioned what Trump meant by that but he continued to steamroll through his answer.
Former FBI agent Pete Strzok called the comment a “tacit admission of unauthorized disclosure of classified information.”
“There were prosecutors and agents taking notes tonight,” tweeted former U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance.
Trump said he believed it was a “rigged election” and said he told Raffensperger “you owe me votes because the election was rigged.”
“File this clip under new evidence for Fani Willis,” tweeted Anthony Michael Kreis, a Georgia State University law professor. “This sure sounds like an admission of corrupt intent to me.”
During a discussion of the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Collins pressed Trump on how his supporters that stormed the Capitol that day “listen to you like no one else.”
“I agree with that,” Trump replied.
Former federal prosecutor Elie Honig, a CNN legal analyst, called it the “most important clip of the night.”
“If you’re thinking about prosecuting Donald Trump in relation to the effort to steal the election, you’re gonna need to show that connection, that Donald Trump knew and understood that his words would be acted on. Knew and understood that people were listening to him and would actually do things because he said so, and stop doing things because he said so,” he said, according to Mediaite. “I’ve never heard him so clearly admit that. Everything Donald Trump says is out there. It’s fair game. It can be used, and I think if I’m a prosecutor watching last night, I’m circling that clip and I’m saying ‘Here we go. We just filled that gap.'”
Trump during the town hall also doubled down on his claim that he did not know Carroll and mocked her sexual abuse allegation just one day after a jury awarded her $3 million over Trump’s defamatory statements.
“This is a fake story. Made-up story,” Trump said, later adding, “I have no idea who the hell she is. She’s a whack job.”
Trump recounted his version of Carroll’s allegation to laughter from the Republican-leaning audience.
“What kind of a woman meets somebody and brings them up and within minutes you’re playing hanky panky in a dressing room,” he said.
Legal experts say Carroll could sue Trump for defamation again — though that does not justify CNN allowing him to use their airwaves to smear the writer.
“I hate that @CNN allowed E. Jean Carroll’s name to be dragged through the mud again by this terrible man,” tweeted Sherrilyn Ifill, the former president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. “Sure she could sue him for defamation again. That doesn’t change the hurt & humiliation at the laughter, and at the knowledge that CNN was willing to expose her to this.”
“I would be salivating if I were the attorney for E. Jean Carroll,” former federal prosecutor Laura Coates said on CNN.
Carroll has another defamation case pending which I think most people figured she’d probably withdraw. After that, perhaps not. he can’t stop defaming her and the reaction of the audience proves that her reputation is seriously damaged. Basically calling her a whore was one of the worst moments of the night.