'Significant issue for Trump': Top attorney leaves defense team — and could be called as a witness

Much to the frustration of special counsel Jack Smith, Judge Aileen Cannon has repeatedly delayed the trial in his Mar-a-Lago documents prosecution of former President Donald Trump. Many legal experts seriously doubt that the case will go to trial before the presidential election in November — if it goes to trial at all.

One of Smith's possible witnesses in the case is someone who has been part of Trump's Mar-a-Lago defense team: attorney Evan Corcoran. But according to CNN sources, Corcoran has left the case.

CNN's Kaitlan Collins, in an article published on April 11, explains, "Corcoran's quiet exit from Trump's orbit could pose a significant issue for the former president, with the potential for prosecutors to call him as a key witness if the case goes to trial. He also was one of the last attorneys on Trump's defense team to have handled his federal investigations from the beginning, as his legal peril skyrocketed."

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The Mar-a-Lago documents case is one of the four criminal indictments that Trump is facing in addition to a variety of civil lawsuits. All of the cases have had their share of delays and complications, but it looks like Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr.'s hush money case will be the first to go to trial. Jury selection is scheduled to begin this Monday, April 15.

In the Mar-a-Lago case, Smith alleges that Trump endangered the United States' national security by storing classified White House documents at his Palm Beach, Florida resort/home — documents that, according to Smith, Trump had no business removing from Washington, D.C. Corcoran has been an important part of Trump's defense team, but ironically, Smith may use his testimony against Trump if the case survives. Many of Trump's critics fear that if he defeats President Joe Biden in November, he will pardon himself in both of Smith's cases against him.

"One year ago," Collins reports, "Corcoran was required to appear before a grand jury investigating the case after a district judge ruled he could not use attorney-client privilege to shield notes and memos from investigators about his interactions with Trump, saying that prosecutors met the threshold for the crime-fraud exception for him. The voice memos turned into notes provided a roadmap for prosecutors when they indicted Trump."

Collins continues, "Corcoran is referred to as 'Trump Attorney 1' in that indictment. If the case goes to trial, Corcoran will likely be a key witness for the prosecution. The case has been mired in delay and unresolved logistical questions for months now."

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The CNN reporter notes that "Corcoran's role in the classified documents probe" could "pose the biggest problem for Trump" if the case ever goes to trial.

"According to special counsel Jack Smith, Corcoran's memos detailed his interactions with Trump and reveal how Corcoran's client was scheming to undermine a subpoena from prosecutors," Collins reports. "At one point, after Corcoran had personally searched for remaining documents at Mar-a-Lago, Trump discussed with the attorney what to do with 38 documents marked as classified that Corcoran had found and placed in a Redweld folder."

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Read CNN's full report at this link.