Legal expert: Mar-a-Lago witness 'has a lot of credibility' against Trump

Legal expert: Mar-a-Lago witness 'has a lot of credibility' against Trump
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA - AUGUST 03: Walt Nauta (L) looks on as former U.S. President Donald Trump (R) talks with members of the media on the tarmac at Reagan National Airport following an arraignment in a Washington, D.C. court on August 3, 2023 in Arlington, Virginia. Former U.S. President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to four felony criminal charges during his arraignment this afternoon after being indicted for his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
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CNN legal analyst Jennifer Rodgers on Thursday explained why "Trump Employee 4" is an ideal witness against Donald Trump after prosecutors struck a deal with the one-time Mar-a-Lago IT worker in the Department of Justice’s classified documents case against the former president.

Attorney Stanley Woodward on Wednesday said in a court filing that Yuscil Taveres — who is referred to as “Trump Employee 4” — reached a deal with special counel Jack Smith to avoid prosecution for lying to a grand jury in exchange for testimony.

“The deal was reached after [Smith’s] office threatened to prosecute the witness,” Reuters reports.

Discussing the classified documents case on CNN, Rodgers explained why Taveras “has a lot of credibility” in his testimony against the former president.

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“He was loyal to Trump," Rodgers said. "He’s just an IT guy, he’s not a political figure, he doesn’t have any skin in the game in that sense, and he worked for Trump and was loyal to him and actually lied to officials about what happened."

“That kind of witness has a lot of credibility, because they don't seem to have an axe to grind, they’re just telling the truth,” the attorney added. “Juries like that.”

CNN host Kate Bolduan noted that Woodward, who is currently representing former Trump valet Walt Nauta, “is asking the judge, in light of this cooperation agreement, to block Taveras' testimony in any eventual trial.”

“Yeah, well that is not going to happen,” Rodgers said bluntly. “But the argument is [Woodward] can't cross-examine Taveras, because he used to be Taveras’ lawyer, so he knows things about Taveras, through the attorney-client privilege, that someone cross-examining Taveras shouldn’t know.”

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