CNN’s Jake Tapper Cracks Up at Easily-Decipherable Redactions in New DOJ Filing: ‘Georgia Governor P17 – I Believe That’s Probably Brian Kemp’
CNN anchor Jake Tapper cracked up over the easily-decipherable redactions made in a new Department of Justice filing on former President Donald Trump, Wednesday.
Reacting to the bombshell filing, which was made by Special Counsel Jack Smith as part of his election interference case against Trump and unsealed on Wednesday, Tapper said:
So, Paula, let me just ask you about some of these redactions because, again, I’m a layperson. I’m not a lawyer like yourself and the wise people involved in this case, but they don’t really make a whole lot of sense to me. For example, P1 is quite obviously Steve Bannon. Just to read, and this is page 7, so I haven’t really gotten very far in it, but, “By October 2020, P1 – a private political adviser who had worked for the defendant’s 2016 presidential campaign – began to assist with the defendant’s reelection effort. Three days before election day, P1 described the defendant’s plan to a private gathering of supporters, quote, ‘And what Trump’s going to do is just declare victory, right? He’s going to declare victory. That doesn’t mean he’s the winner. He’s just going to say he’s the winner.'” Now, that quote exists on video, we know it’s Steve Bannon, why even redact it?
CNN chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid replied, “So here you do see redactions, mostly of specific names of witnesses. Again, this is highly unusual to release the kind of evidence that you have uncovered in a criminal investigation, in a filing like this that is made public. So these are the types of redactions.”
She noted, however, that “anyone who’s covered this case, this investigation, and who’s followed the story, when given a little bit of time is going to figure out who most of these people are, because as you said, this has been something that’s been out in the open.”
“There’s, of course, the January 6 committee. There have been other cases related to this. So it’s going to be pretty easy to figure out who said what,” Reid continued. “But the court here making some attempt to protect the identities of officials, in this case of witnesses, right? Because these were people who either testified before the grand jury or spoke to investigators. I just want to underscore this is an extraordinary thing to get a filing like this, and this is part of the court’s efforts to try to protect those witnesses. But like you said, you only got to page 7 and you already knew who one of the witnesses was.”
Tapper mocked, “Well, for anybody at home who’s doing this kind of like a bingo game, page 18, it refers to Georgia Governor P17. I believe that’s probably Brian Kemp,” before laughing.
He concluded, “I mean, I’m no master strategist here, but I mean, would that be your reading as well?”
Watch above via CNN.
