A 2021 recording could be among DOJ’s 'most important' evidence against Trump: ex-federal prosecutor

When pundits at MSNBC and CNN say that the United States is in uncharted territory in 2023, it's no exaggeration. Never before in U.S. history has a former president been the frontrunner in his party's presidential primary while facing a 34-count criminal indictment.

But Donald Trump's legal exposure doesn't end with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Jr.'s case against him. Trump is also facing two federal prosecutions by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and special counsel Jack Smith and a Georgia prosecution by Fulton County DA Fani Willis. And former Elle Magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll has filed another civil defamation lawsuit against Trump after already winning $5 million in damages in a previous lawsuit.

One of Smith's Trump-related lawsuits focuses on government documents he was storing at Mar-a-Lago. The evidence in that case may include a 2021 recording in which Trump acknowledged taking a classified military planning document.

READ MORE: Fani Willis' latest moves strongly indicate a Trump indictment in Georgia is coming this summer

Former federal prosecutor Paul Charlton discussed that recording during an early June appearance on MSNBC. The segment also included MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell, the New York Times' Peter Baker and Politico's Jonathan Lemire (who also hosts MSNBC's "Way Too Early").

Charlton explained, "Andrea, we can't know all of the evidence that Jack Smith has in his possession right now, but if this recording is a capturing of former President Trump's voice admitting that he has, in his possession, a classified document at his country club — at his golf club — then it is probably among the best, most important, most weighty pieces of evidence that Jack Smith has. And why is that? Because intent —what it is the president knew — is going to be one of the most difficult aspects of any prosecution."

The ex-U.S. attorney went on to stress that a "tape played before a jury is powerful evidence."

"It doesn't forget," Charlton told Mitchell, "and it doesn't lie…. (If) he is admitting he has in his possession a classified document, it is going to be a key piece of evidence for the federal prosecutors."

READ MORE: Next stop for Jack Smith is Trump's financial ties to the Saudis: columnist

Watch the video below or at this link.

Paul Charlton: Trump would face charges under Espionage Act if he took classified military docswww.youtube.com