Ex-Trump campaign official cooperating with Jack Smith in election interference probeSpecial counsel Jack Smith has secured the cooperation of Mike Roman, a one-time campaign official for former President Donald Trump, as part of the investigation into the plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election, CNN reported Thursday.
"One of the sources said that the agreement, known as a proffer agreement, means that Roman may not have to appear before the grand jury but could instead speak to prosecutors in a more informal setting. Under such an agreement, prosecutors generally agree not to use those statements against them in future criminal proceedings," reported Zachary Cohen and Kaitlan Collins. "Roman, who received a grand jury subpoena months ago and had his phone seized, was involved in efforts to put forward slates of fake Trump electors following the 2020 election."
This comes amid reporting that Smith is focusing in on the plot to declare fake lists of electors in over half a dozen states, which would then be used as a pretext for throwing out election results and tipping the election to Trump. John Eastman, a far-right lawyer who drafted a memo purporting to explain how former Vice President Mike Pence could block electors as part of this scheme, is now facing potential disbarment.
"The House select committee that investigated January 6, 2021, interviewed Roman — a senior adviser to Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign and tasked with Election Day operations — as part of its inquiry," the report noted. "Speaking to House investigators, Roman invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination for the committee’s questions about his efforts after the election. However, he did answer some of the committee’s questions about his activities ahead of Election Day."
While all of this is taking place, Smith is preparing for trial after indicting Trump in a separate case, concerning the former president's stash of highly classified military secrets at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
Another report today suggests that Smith is pursuing information in that case from Susie Wiles, a Republican operative who is running Trump's 2024 campaign, and who was shown a classified map by Trump.
AFPTrump could violate Espionage Act whether he showed docs or just talked about them: legal expertDonald Trump could be found guilty under the Espionage Act even if he never showed anyone a single document, according to a former federal prosecutor.
Harry Litman said Thursday during an appearance on The Lincoln Project’s “The Breakdown” that transmitting information contained in a classified document, whether by discussing it or sharing the physical document, would qualify as a violation of a provision of the Espionage Act.
Litman was responding to a question from a viewer on the show over whether Trump would be disseminating classified information just by talking about its contents.
“Yes,” Litman said. “It’s the same Espionage Act statute, it’s a different section of it, and all you have to do is communicate it.”
But Litman suggested that it would behoove special counsel Jack Smith to obtain the document that reportedly contains plans for a potential military conflict with Iran.
“You would really need the document, I think just for a reasonable doubt proof, but in terms of the letter of the law, you tell him about it, and you can imagine, right oh, yeah, here's what you said about attacking Iran. He's given up the ghost, right.”
Litman’s comments suggest the whereabouts of the missing document could have significant implications in the case against the former president.
CNN earlier this month reported that Trump’s attorneys have not yet located the document.
AFP'Mafioso' Trump doesn't have the leverage to keep people from flipping on him: columnistDonald Trump likes to run his operation in a "mafioso" fashion, but the former president no longer has the leverage needed to keep people silent, according to Rolling Stone columnist Jay Michaelson.
Michaelson was on CNN Thursday evening to discuss Trump's mounting legal woes, and said the whole thing is starting to feel like "a house of cards."
"It is all of these different pieces, the whole thing seems to be falling apart. It has been said before that Trump kind of runs his inner circle in a mafioso sort of way, everybody is on loyalty and so forth," he said, adding that it "depends on shutting up and being quiet and being able to enforce that with violence or threats of violence, which trump cannot do."
Michaelson said Trump "does not have leverage anymore, he does not have power over these people anymore."
"It is all crumbling, and it is interesting that there may be more indictments coming possibly to Bedminster in the addition to the Mar-a-Lago documents. We do not want to make too much, people aren't talking we don't know what they said or didn't say, but nonetheless it is really quite remarkable."
