Trump lawyers hire team to search his properties for classified info

E TRYING TO KEEP TRACK OF ALL THE DONALD TRUMP INVESTIGATIONS INCLUDING CNN LEARNING THIS TODAY, TRUMP’S LAWYERS RECENTLY HIRED A TEAM TO SEARCH FOUR OF THE FORMER PRESIDENT’S PROPERTIES INCLUDING TRUMP TOWER AND HIS BEDMINSTER GOLF CLUB TO LOOK FOR POTENTIAL CLASSIFIED MATERIALS. THE FORMER PRESIDENT VOWING TO APPEAL A MANHATTAN JURY’S DECISION FINDING TWO OF HIS COMPANIES GUILTY OF CRIMINAL TAX FRAUD. NOW, TRUMP HIMSELF WAS NOT CHARGED IN THAT CASE BUT IT IS A SIGNIFICANT BLOW TO HIS BRAND AND THAT VERDICT COMES AMID IMPORTANT NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN SEVERAL OTHER INVESTIGATIONS STEMMING FROM HIS EFFORTS TO IGNORE

OR OVERTURN THE 2020 ELECTION RESULTS. THERE ARE NEW SUBPOENA, FOR EXAMPLE, FROM THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT’S SPECIAL COUNSEL AND POTENTIAL REFERRAL AS NOW BY THE JANUARY 6th COMMITTEE, CRIMINAL REFERRALS. JOINING ME TO SHARE THE REPORTING IS CNN SARA MURRAY, CNN’S EVAN PEREZ AND FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR JENNIFER RODGERS. EVAN, IN THE SENSE WE CAN PUT UP ON THE SCREEN THIS MYRIAD OF INVESTIGATIONS, ONE OF THEM WAS THE INVESTIGATION, THE VERDICT YESTERDAY IN A LAWSUIT WHERE HE WAS NOT NAMED AS A DEFENDANT BUT THERE WERE CERTAINLY QUESTIONS RAISED ABOUT THE ETHICS AND TAX PRACTICES OF HIS BUSINESS, THE

NEW YORK MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEY SAYS THAT’S A STEPPING STONE, MORE WORK TO BE DONE. >> THE INVESTIGATION IS ONGOING. THIS WAS A CHAPTER IN IT, A CASE AGAINST

THE CORPORATIONS WHO SANCTIONED THE CONDUCT ON BEHALF OF THE CORPORATION IS A DIFFERENT STANDARD FROM PROOF BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT AS TO AN INDIVIDUAL, BUT, YOU KNOW, WE’RE CONTINUING TO DO OUR WORK. >> THIS IS AN OFFICE THAT HAS BEEN TRUMP CRITICS HAVE CRITICIZED IN THE PAST SAYING THAT HE BACKED OFF FROM OTHER INVESTIGATIONS THAT HE INHERITED. DO WE GET A SENSE, DOES THE TAX CASE GIVE THEM

MORE FODDER, EVIDENCE TO MOVE FORWARD OR IS HE JUST HOLDING HIS OPTIONS? >> I THINK HE’S TRYING TO HAVE IT BOTH WAYS. I MEAN, THEY HAD AN OPTION CERTAINLY WHEN THEY HAD ALLEN WEISSELBERG WHO WAS THE STAR WITNESS IN THEIR TRIAL, YOU KNOW, THEY COULD HAVE MADE A DEAL WITH HIM WHERE HE WOULD BE A WITNESS AGAINST THE FORMER PRESIDENT AND HIS FAMILY. THEY POINTEDLY DID NOT DO THAT. HE SAYS THAT OBVIOUSLY ALL THE OPTIONS ARE STILL ON THE TABLE. BUT IT’S HARD TO SEE, YOU KNOW, HOW YOU’RE GOING TO MAKE A CASE WHEN YOU

DON’T DO A DEAL LIKE THAT. BY THE WAY, YOU KNOW, OUR KARA SCANNELL REPORTED MULTIPLE TIMES PROSECUTORS SAID IT WAS CLEAR TRUMP WAS INVOLVED IN ALL OF THIS, THAT HE OBVIOUSLY UNDERREPORTED HIS INCOME OR HIS TAXES CERTAINLY FOR HIS TAX PURPOSES FOR YEARS, SO ALL OF THIS SHOULD HAVE YOU THINK — PRESENTED EVIDENCE THAT THEY COULD HAVE USED. >> WE’LL SEE. YOU WERE UP ON CAPITOL HILL YESTERDAY. ANOTHER ONE OF THE QUESTIONS IS HOW SPECIFIC WILL THE JANUARY 6th COMMITTEE BE WHEN, A, IT PUBLISHES A REPORT AND, B, IT WILL, THE CHAIRMAN SAYS, HAVE SOME

CRIMINAL REFERRALS TO THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT. ONE OF THE MEMBERS, ADAM SCHIFF SAYS AT THE TOP OF THE LIST JUDD BE DONALD J. TRUMP. >> DO YOU BELIEVE THAT DONALD TRUMP COMMITTED SPECIFIC PROSECUTABLE CRIMES ON JANUARY 6th AND BEFOREHAND, A CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY OR SOMETHING ELSE? >> YES, I DO. I THINK THE FACTS SUPPORT A POTENTIAL CHARGE AGAINST THE FORMER PRESIDENT, AND, YOU KNOW, THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT IN MY VIEW NEEDS TO HOLD EVERYONE EQUALLY RESPONSIBLE BEFORE THE LAW. >> HE AMONG THE COMMITTEE MEMBERS HAS BEEN NUDGING THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT FROM THE VERY GET-GO HERE. DO WE HAVE

A SENSE OF HOW CLEAR THEY WILL BE? >> WELL, I THINK THEY DON’T HAVE A SENSE OF HOW CLEAR THEY WILL BE AT THIS POINT. RIGHT NOW THEY’RE STILL NARROWING DOWN THE LIST OF THE UNIVERSE OF PEOPLE THEY WANT TO PUT ON THIS LIST FOR CRIMINAL REFERRALS. OBVIOUSLY WE KNOW THEY’RING THE POSSIBILITY OF A DONALD TRUMP CRIMINAL REFERRAL BUT THE QUESTION IS, WHICH OF THOSE ALLIES MAY ALSO BE ON THOSE LISTS? WHAT KIND OF CRIMES ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT REFERRING THEM FOR AND THEY DON’T HAVE A LOT OF TIME TO NARROW THIS DOWN. THEY KEEP

SAYING IT WILL BE SOON. IT’S GOING TO BE SOON AND WE’RE SAYING HOW SOON. A THIS WEEK THING, NEXT WEEK THING? WE’RE WAITING FOR THEM TO NAIL DOWN THE DETAILS LIKE EVERYONE IS. >> HELP US WITH YOUR EXPERIENCE AS A FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR. SOMETIMES INVESTIGATORS SEND SUBPOENAS BECAUSE THEY ARE IN THE EARLY STAGES OF AN INVESTIGATION TRYING TO GATHER INFORMATION AND YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE IT’S GOING TO TAKE YOU. IN THE CASE OF THE NEW SPECIAL COUNSEL WE KNOW THERE HAVE BEEN NEW SUBPOENAS ISSUED IN WISCONSIN, IN MICHIGAN, IN ARIZONA. ASKING, WE KNOW, IN ALL

OF THOSE STATES TRUMP ALLIES WERE TRYING TO FIND A WAY TO REVERSE THE RESULTS OF THE 2020 ELECTION. WHAT DOES THAT TELL YOU? WHAT WOULD YOU READ INTO THAT ABOUT THE STRATEGY, THE FOCUS OF THE NEW SPECIAL COUNSEL? >> WELL, JOHN, THESE ARE LATER STAGE SUBPOENAS AND STARTED WITH SUBPOENAS TO THE FAKE ELECTORS THEMSELVES TO FIND OUT WHO IS INVOLVED, WHAT DID THEY DO, WHAT WAS THE SCOPE OF THIS GAME AND ALSO TO SEE IF THEY COULD FLIP ANY OF THOSE PEOPLE AND GET TESTIMONY FROM THOSE PEOPLE ABOUT THE FOLKS WHO WERE REALLY RUNNING THE

SHOW FROM WASHINGTON SO NOW WE SEE THE NEXT ROUND, THE SUBPOENAS ABOUT WE WANT TO HEAR ABOUT COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN YOU AND THESE PEOPLE IN WASHINGTON, DONALD TRUMP AND HIS SUPPORTERS, JOHN EASTMAN, RUDY GIULIANI, SIDNEY POWELL, THE OTHER FOLKS RUNNING THAT CRIMINAL SCHEME AND SO NOW WE’LL SEE AS PEOPLE START GOING INTO THE GRAND JURY NOW THAT A LOT OF THE LITIGATION OVER EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE AND OTHER PRIVILEGED ISSUES HAS LARGELY CONCLUDED THEY’LL START GETTING THAT EVIDENCE AND AFTER THIS ROUND I THINK THEY’LL START TO BE IN A POSITION TO THINK ABOUT CHARGING THOSE CRIMES. >> AFTER

THIS ROUND, TO THINK ABOUT IT. ONE LAST QUICK ONE CONFORMING THE REPORTING THAT TRUMP’S TEAM HIRED A FIRM TO LOOK — THEY SAY THEY SEARCHED AND FOUND NO MORE CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS. >> THEY SAID THEY FOUND NO ADDITIONAL CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS AND, YOU KNOW, VERY NICE OF THEM, THEY ALSO INVITED THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TO COME AT LEAST OBSERVE ONE OF THESE SEARCHES WHICH THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT DECLINED BUT KEEP IN MIND THAT THE PROSECUTORS HAVE BEEN TELLING TRUMP AND HIS TEAM WE BELIEVE THERE ARE ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS THAT ARE MISSING, THAT NEED TO BE RETURNED. THAT’S PARTLY WHY THEY

KNOW THAT THE FORMER PRESIDENT HAS A LOT OF LEGAL JEOPARDY, YOU KNOW, THE CONSTELLATION OF INVESTIGATIONS AS YOU POINTED OUT BUT THIS ONE IS VERY REAL. HE GOT A SUBPOENA. HE WAS TOLD TO TURN OVER DOCUMENTS THAT WERE MARKED CLASSIFIED. DID NOT AND THEN WEEKS LATER THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT GOES THERE AND FINDS IT. >> YET AGAIN YOU TRY TO ANSWER A QUESTION AND RAISE A QUESTION, IF THEY BELI