Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (DR.I.) said the lawsuit filed by the Justice Department Wednesday in the classified documents case against Donald Trump shows that prosecutors have strong arguments against the former president.
“It shows me that the Special Counsel thinks he has a very solid case and he doesn’t have to be cute. He can be what prosecutors call an “open kimono” and turn over all the evidence early,” said Whitehouse, a former federal prosecutor. said MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell.
The filing showed that Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team had turned over their initial discovery materials in support of his case to Trump, who is accused of mishandling confidential government documents brought from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago estate to have.
The initial discoveries included evidence obtained through search warrants and subpoenas, surveillance footage and testimony from grand jury witnesses who will testify for the government at the trial. according to CNN.
Whitehouse said the extensive handover spelled trouble for Trump and his legal team.
“It tells me it’s going to be a bad Christmas for the Trump attorneys when they open the various evidence files and find out how terrible the evidence is against their client,” he said.
“And it shows me that they want to get Trump’s attention early,” he added, “by giving his attorneys the evidence they need to be able to go to their client and say, ‘Hey, you’re in real life here Difficulties.’ ”