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CNN host Kaitlan Collins revealed the shocking information that Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran has left the former president’s legal team, pointing out that Corcoran is a “major witness” in the case involving the classified documents.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an appeal that Trump’s legal team filed over a year ago to stop Corcoran from providing testimony and documents to the Justice Department’s Special Counsel Jack Smith-led investigation into Trump’s improper handling of classified material. Corcoran then found himself forced to testify on behalf of Smith, having taken numerous notes and recordings.
CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, which aired on Thursday night, confirmed Corcoran’s departure from the Trump team and went into detail about the startling developments he has been a part of in the case:
KAITLAN COLLINS: I’ve got some breaking news for you, tonight.
I’ve been speaking with sources, and can now report a key attorney has left Donald Trump’s legal team. That lawyer happens to be a major witness, in the classified documents case against him.
Tonight, I’ve learned that Evan Corcoran has quietly departed Trump’s legal team. This matters because Corcoran is potentially going to be a critical witness against Trump, if that case ever goes to trial.
He was the one, who went through the storage room, at Mar-a-Lago about two summers ago, looking for classified documents, after they received a subpoena from the Justice Department. Trump allegedly misled him about the whereabouts of those documents, and also encouraged him, his attorney, to lie to the Justice Department.
Remember, Corcoran actually had to go and testify before a grand jury, investigating the case, after a judge ruled that he couldn’t use attorney-client privilege, to shield from investigators, the meticulous notes that he had taken about his interactions with Donald Trump.
As we later saw, those notes helped lay the groundwork for prosecutors to indict Trump, referring to Corcoran as Trump Attorney number 1, 20 times in that indictment.
If the documents case ever goes to trial, and that’s a major question tonight, Corcoran would likely be a key witness for the prosecution. Even though he ultimately recused himself, from representing Trump, in that case, he had stayed on for a bit in the other federal case against Trump, the one for election interference.
If you’ll remember, he was there alongside Trump, when he was arraigned in Washington, last fall. That is no longer the case, though, I have heard.
And here’s why this matters tonight. It’s Corcoran’s role, as a witness, in the documents probe, that could pose the biggest problem for Donald Trump. Corcoran recorded voice memos that turned into detailed notes, about his conversations with the former President, including instances, where Trump suggested that he should mislead the Justice Department.
There was that unforgettable moment that was detailed in the indictment, from the Special Counsel, Jack Smith, after Evan Corcoran had found some classified documents, at Mar-a-Lago, about 38 of them.
They were discussing what to do with them, Evan Corcoran and Donald Trump. When the former President asked him, quote, “Did you find anything? … Is it bad? Good?”
According to Corcoran’s notes, “TRUMP made a plucking motion” during the conversation, which Evan Corcoran took to mean, “OK why don’t you take them with you to your hotel room and if there’s anything really bad in there, like, you know, pluck it out.”
Of course, as we all know now, and from that indictment, a few months later, the FBI showed back up at Mar-a-Lago with a search warrant.
WaATCH:
Earlier this month, Special Counsel Jack Smith dropped a new filing with the U.S. Supreme Court that he hopes will further his prosecution of Trump.
Smith wants the nation’s highest court to reject Trump’s claim that he’s immune from prosecution for actions he took on Jan. 6, 2020, the day of the riot at the U.S. Capitol Building.
The special counsel has filed charges against him alleging felonious election subversion activity, which Trump has vehemently denied.
In his brief to the Supreme Court, Smith argued that Trump has presented a “novel and sweeping” theory of immunity devoid of any prior historical precedent, contending that his theory conflicts with the founding father’s vision of the nation.
