CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Breaks Bombshell News Trump Lawyer Evan Corcoran Leaves Team Trump — ‘Major Witness’ In Docs Case
CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins broke the bombshell news that Trump attorney Evan Corcoran has left former President Donald Trump’s legal team and noted he has been a “major witness” in the classified docs case.
Just over a year ago, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an appeal by Trump’s legal team seeking to block Corcoran from testifying and turning over documents to the Special Counsel Jack Smith-led Justice Department probe into Trump’s mishandling of classified information. Corcoran — who made copious notes and recordings — was then compelled to testify for Smith.
On Thursday night’s edition of CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, Collins confirmed the news that Corcoran has left the Trump fold, and detailed the stunning developments he has been a part of in the case:
KAITLAN COLLINS: I’ve got some breaking news for you, tonight.
I’ve been speaking with sources, and can now report a key attorney has left Donald Trump’s legal team. That lawyer happens to be a major witness, in the classified documents case against him.
Tonight, I’ve learned that Evan Corcoran has quietly departed Trump’s legal team. This matters because Corcoran is potentially going to be a critical witness against Trump, if that case ever goes to trial.
He was the one, who went through the storage room, at Mar-a-Lago about two summers ago, looking for classified documents, after they received a subpoena from the Justice Department. Trump allegedly misled him about the whereabouts of those documents, and also encouraged him, his attorney, to lie to the Justice Department.
Remember, Corcoran actually had to go and testify before a grand jury, investigating the case, after a judge ruled that he couldn’t use attorney-client privilege, to shield from investigators, the meticulous notes that he had taken about his interactions with Donald Trump.
As we later saw, those notes helped lay the groundwork for prosecutors to indict Trump, referring to Corcoran as Trump Attorney number 1, 20 times in that indictment.
If the documents case ever goes to trial, and that’s a major question tonight, Corcoran would likely be a key witness for the prosecution. Even though he ultimately recused himself, from representing Trump, in that case, he had stayed on for a bit in the other federal case against Trump, the one for election interference.
If you’ll remember, he was there alongside Trump, when he was arraigned in Washington, last fall. That is no longer the case, though, I have heard.
And here’s why this matters tonight. It’s Corcoran’s role, as a witness, in the documents probe, that could pose the biggest problem for Donald Trump. Corcoran recorded voice memos that turned into detailed notes, about his conversations with the former President, including instances, where Trump suggested that he should mislead the Justice Department.
There was that unforgettable moment that was detailed in the indictment, from the Special Counsel, Jack Smith, after Evan Corcoran had found some classified documents, at Mar-a-Lago, about 38 of them.
They were discussing what to do with them, Evan Corcoran and Donald Trump. When the former President asked him, quote, “Did you find anything? … Is it bad? Good?”
According to Corcoran’s notes, “TRUMP made a plucking motion” during the conversation, which Evan Corcoran took to mean, “OK why don’t you take them with you to your hotel room and if there’s anything really bad in there, like, you know, pluck it out.”
Of course, as we all know now, and from that indictment, a few months later, the FBI showed back up at Mar-a-Lago with a search warrant.
Watch above via CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins.
