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Former President Donald Trump was triggered enough to "blow a gasket" after receiving the first batch of evidence being used against him in the Mar-a-Lago documents case, former federal prosecutor and frequent Trump critic Glenn Kirschner said.
According to a court filing on Wednesday, Special Counsel Jack Smith has begun providing Trump's legal team with evidence used in the Department of Justice's investigation into the former president's handling of classified documents since leaving the White House. Trump is facing 37 federal felony counts.
The discovery order filed by the DOJ lists several pieces of evidence, including audio recordings or written statements of interviews that Trump "conducted with non-government entities" at his "consent" that have been obtained by Smith's office. The Justice Department also mentions an audio recording made in July 2021 at Trump's Bedminster Golf Club in New Jersey that was previewed in the indictment.
Other pieces of evidence listed in the discovery include "grand jury testimony of witnesses who will testify for the government at the trial of this case." Federal prosecutors did not provide specific names of the witnesses in Trump's indictment but often described the unnamed sources as "Trump Employee 1" or "Trump Attorney 1." A reference to a Trump family member is also included in the indictment.
According to Kirschner, providing a preview of the witnesses who testified against him "made Donald Trump blow a gasket" after reviewing the discovery order.
"That's right, friends," Kirschner said during Thursday's episode of his Justice Matters podcast. "Donald Trump now has the grand jury transcript so he can see for the first time who testified against him and what they told the grand jury about his criminal activity. So, it just got real for Donald Trump."
Kirschner went on to infer that the witnesses in question likely told Trump "everything he wanted to hear" while working closely to the former president but did not say the same "when they were hauled before the grand jury."
"They swore to tell the truth and if they lied in there, they could be charged with perjury," he noted.
"So, who were all the people that Jack Smith compelled to testify in the grand jury about Donald Trump's crimes?" Kirschner added. "Most of them were allies."
According to the former prosecutor, receiving a preview of the evidence being used against him caused Trump to "blow a gasket" on social media, as Kirschner highlighted a Truth Social post from the former president published Thursday morning.
"CONGRESS, PLEASE INVESTIGATE THE POLITICAL WITCH HUNTS AGAINST ME CURRENTLY BEING BROUGHT BY THE CORRUPT DOJ AND FBI, WHO ARE TOTALLY OUT OF CONTROL," Trump wrote in all caps. "THIS CONTINUING SAGA IS RETRIBUTION AGAINST ME FOR WINNING AND, EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY TO THEM, ELECTION INTERFERENCE REGARDING THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION."
Newsweek has previously reached out to Trump's campaign for comment on the DOJ's discovery order.
"Seems pretty confident," Kirschner quipped after reading the post aloud on his podcast. "Not a care in the world."
Trump has relied on Truth Social since being banned on nearly all mainstream social-media platforms following the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The former president has repeatedly used the conservative platform to attack his political opponents and insist that the investigations against him are part of a "witch hunt."
About the writer
Kaitlin Lewis is a Newsweek reporter on the Night Team based in Boston, Massachusetts. Her focus is reporting on national ... Read more