Former Trump White House lawyer: 'Whataboutisms' won't save ex-president in Mar-a-Lago documents trial

27 June 2023

CNN has obtained an audio recording of a July 2021 conversation in which former President Donald Trump and his allies discuss classified government documents he had in his possession. During the conversation, Trump joked about the Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal of 2016.

A Trump ally is heard saying, "Hillary would print that out all the time, you know. Her private e-mails" — to which Trump responded, "No, she'd send it to Anthony Weiner."

On Monday, June 26, CNN's Abby D. Phillip discussed the recording with former Trump Administration lawyer James Schultz — who stressed that "whataboutism" isn't going to help Trump in special counsel Jack Smith's 37-count federal prosecution.

Smith alleges that Trump endangered the United States' national security by illegally storing highly classified government documents at Mar-a-Lago. The indictment includes obstruction of justice charges, and 31 of the counts allege violations of the Espionage Act of 1917.

Phillip noted that in the recording, Trump and his allies are heard "making jokes about Hillary Clinton's e-mails." And Schultz told Phillip, "So, I think that really hurts him, and here's why. I mean, look, there's this whole whataboutism folks are making all over the news at this point. Anybody's who interviewed talks about: What about Hillary Clinton?"

Schultz continued, "Well, the issue there is you're not talking about whataboutisms when you get before a jury. When you get before a jury, they're going to have specific instructions as to the elements of the case and whether those elements are met by the facts. And the fact that they're kind of being very casual — or laissez-faire, if you will — about this whole issue when you have national defense information or alleged national defense information right before the former president and other folks in the room who don't have a right to look at this information, that becomes very troublesome to someone. And the prosecution is going to seize on that for sure when they're talking about the gravity of the issue before that jury."

Watch the video below.

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