CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Defends Jack Smith When Trump Attorney Attacks Him As Biden Hatchet Man

CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins pushed back when Trump attorney Jim Trusty attacked Special Counsel Jack Smith as a hatchet man carrying out a vendetta for President Joe Biden.

Trump himself broke the blockbuster news Thursday that he has been indicted in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into classified documents under the Espionage Act, news that shook the political world.

On Thursday night’s edition of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, Collins scored a major coup when she interviewed Trusty for the first time since news of the indictment broke — but before the devastating 37-count indictment was unsealed.

After the attorney ranted that Smith and Attorney General Merrick Garland were acting as a “Praetorian guard” for Biden, Collins stepped in to defend Smith’s independence:

COLLINS: That’s what you’re saying. I’m taking you at your word on that. We don’t have any evidence of that ourselves, I just want to note for our audience.

But I want to get back to the indictment here, because this is the breaking news tonight from your own client. How did you find out about this? Was — did you hear from the special counsel, Jack Smith? How did you get this summons that you’re referencing?

TRUSTY: Yes, we got an e-mail from the guy who actually did the extortion.

I think that was a cute little message from DOJ that they’re not going to — they’re not going to worry about their own dirty house. And so we got an e-mail that basically had a summons, an invitation to have a call to kind of work on some of the logistics. And we will work on those logistics. There’s a lot to kind of figure out between the U.S. Marshals and the U.S. Secret Service to make this as smooth as possible, make it safe for the public, and make it efficient in the courthouse.

So that’s all coming. It would be nice to actually have a copy of the indictment, but we don’t have that quite yet.

COLLINS: When do you expect that you will get a…

TRUSTY: I guess they’re kind of holding it hostage until we agree.

COLLINS: When do you expect you will get a copy of that indictment?

TRUSTY: Sometime between now and Tuesday afternoon. If they want to continue to play games, they will give it to us at 3:01 p.m. Tuesday.

COLLINS: What was the former president’s reaction when you told him that he had been indicted in this case?

TRUSTY: It’s a combination of things.

I mean, look, any time you advise a client that they have been indicted, when they know it’s just fundamentally wrong — you know, I know all attorneys go on the air and say, my client’s innocent, and then, after the trial, we’re going to win the appeal.

Well, here, he is innocent. I mean, everything about this case is absolutely rotten, the misconduct that we have documented for an attorney general who hides behind Jack Smith. And so his reaction was personal, but it wasn’t.

He thought about it. He said This is just a sad day. I can’t believe I have been indicted.

Those are kind of my — my summary words of what he had to say. But, at the same time, he immediately recognizes the historic nature of this. This is crossing the Rubicon. When we have a weaponized DOJ serving as the Praetorian Guard for the Democratic Party for the incumbent administration, and the attorney general, who is in charge of Jack Smith, hides from meetings, hides from conversations and just says, go talk to Jack…

COLLINS: Well, Jack Smith is a…

TRUSTY: … it is a — it is a crazy new world.

COLLINS: Jack Smith is a special counsel. He acts independent. That’s why he was appointed in this.

But he was in that meeting that you were in on Monday at the Justice Department, we are told. Did he say anything to you in that meeting? Was there any indication that these charges were coming?

TRUSTY: I’m not going to talk about the meeting.

But to go back to your premise there, Kaitlan, this is not an independent counsel statute. That changed. This is special counsel. They are still answerable to the attorney general. Now, for whatever political reason — maybe it’s all about Delaware, where, apparently, cases go to die — everything that the attorney general should be doing, in terms of transparency, is not happening.

That started with his impromptu press conference to announce the president’s guilt. It’s continued with the misconduct that we have documented. And it’s not just the smoking gun that I have mentioned in terms of extortion. Now, obviously, you got Tim Parlatore there. He can tell you about the grand jury abuse that he went through directly.

That’s pretty solid evidence. And there’s a whole bunch of other stories of mistreating, intimidating, browbeating witnesses and gamesmanship.

COLLINS: I know those are your allegations, Jim.

TRUSTY: So, we’re going to come out smoking on this thing.

COLLINS: And I know — I know that’s why you went to the Justice Department on Monday, to air your grievances about how this investigation has been conducted.

Watch above via Anderson Cooper 360.