‘Shocker – He’s Not Listening to His Lawyers’: Jim Acosta Reacts to Report That Trump Ignored Attorneys’ Advice and Kept Classified Docs

CNN’s Jim Acosta reacted to a Washington Post report describing how former President Donald Trump ignored his lawyers’ advice and instead heeded the counsel of Tom Fitton, the head of a right-wing organization and a man with no legal training.

On Wednesday, the Post relayed a head-scratching story about Trump repeatedly brushing aside advice from his attorneys:

Trump time and again rejected the advice from lawyers and advisers who urged him to cooperate and instead took the advice of Tom Fitton, the head of the conservative group Judicial Watch, and a range of others who told him he could legally keep the documents and should fight the Justice Department, advisers said. Trump would often cite Fitton to others, and Fitton told some of Trump’s lawyers that Trump could keep the documents, even as they disagreed, the advisers said.

The Post said several Trump advisers blame Fitton for helping land the ex-president in his current predicament in which Trump faces 37 federal counts originating from his retention of government documents upon leaving office. He pleaded not guilty to each count at his arraignment on Tuesday.

“Jim, you know Trump very well and covered him many years inside the White House,” Kaitlan Collins said to Acosta before asking for his reaction to the recent reports from MAGA world, including Trump’s boast that he has raised nearly $7 million since he was indicted last week.

“First thing, shocker – he’s not listening to his lawyers,” Acosta said. “When have we heard that story before? I mean, this is a familiar pattern with Donald Trump. He gets into legal trouble. That legal trouble creates a spectacle. And he uses the spectacle to raise money and fire up his base, and that’s what he is doing. And that cycle will continue.”

He went on to describe a conversation he had with a “longtime Trump adviser earlier this evening” about the 2024 presidential campaign.

“He said there’s just no way Donald Trump drops out of this race,” Acosta went on. “But he said, ‘What happens with the collective weight of four different indictments? If we see two more indictments, what does the collective weight of those indictments do?”

Trump has also been indicted on state charges in Manhattan. He is also under under federal investigation.

“What I think is very interesting right now is looking at this Republican field and seeing all of these candidates out there floating the possibility that they may pardon him,” Acosta added. “They’re not just running for vice president these days. It sounds like they’re running to be his savior. And so, this adviser was essentially saying, ‘Listen, maybe Donald Trump – being the most transactional person we know – does he step aside in exchange for potentially a deal for a pardon from one of these other candidates?'”

Watch above via CNN