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Jack Smith holds PRESS CONFERENCE on Trump INDICTMENT
by Ben Meiselas and Karen Agnifilo
MeidasTouch
Jun 9, 2023
Special Counsel Jack Smith held his first press conference since Donald Trump was criminally indicted in federal court in Florida.
Transcript
I'm Ben Meiselas from the Meidas touch
Network we are just moments away from
special counsel Jack Smith delivering a
press conference after Donald Trump has
been criminally indicted in federal
court in the southern district of
Florida that indictment has just been
unsealed I of course want to break down
everything that's in that indictment
with my co-host from legal AF Karen
Friedman agnifolo who joins us here as
well and uh Karen first I'm getting word
that special counsel Jack Smith is about
to give the press conference let's play
the press conference of special counsel
Jack Smith and then let's uh respond to
that and then let's go through the
indictment let's go to the press
conference
good afternoon
today an indictment was unsealed
charging Donald J Trump with felony
violations
of our national security laws as well as
participating in a conspiracy to
obstruct Justice
this indictment was voted by a grand
jury of citizens in the southern
district of Florida
and I invite everyone to read it in full
to understand the scope
and the gravity of the crimes charged
the men and women of the United States
intelligence community and our Armed
Forces dedicate their lives to
protecting our nation and its people
are laws that protect National Defense
information are critical to the Safety
and Security of the United States
and they must be enforced
violations of those laws put our country
at risk
adherence to the rule of law is a
Bedrock principle of the Department of
Justice
and our nation's commitment to the rule
of law sets an example for the world
we have one set of laws in this country
and they apply to everyone
applying those laws collecting facts
that's what determines the outcome of an
investigation
nothing more
and nothing less
the prosecutors in my office are among
the most talented
and experienced in the Department of
Justice
they have investigated this case hewing
to the highest ethical standards and
they will continue to do so as this case
proceeds
it's very important for me to note that
the defendants in this case must be
presumed innocent until proven guilty
Beyond A Reasonable Doubt in a court of
law
to that end my office will seek a speedy
trial in this matter
consistent with a public interest and
the rights of the accused
we very much look forward to presenting
our case to a jury of citizens in the
southern district of Florida
there you have it and uh special counsel
Jack Smith concluded his speech right
there walked off did not take any
further questions so there's nothing
else that we miss that's the entire
press conference that's bringing Karen
Friedman agnifolo co-host of legal AF
CNN correspondent Karen used to be of
course the number two at the Manhattan
District Attorney's office and has
provided incredible legal analysis here
on the Midas touch Network Karen
Friedman agnifolo what's your response
to that press conference before getting
into the recently unsealed indictment
yeah Jack Smith I think really felt like
he had to explain to the American people
what happened here and what's going on
you know I think that if you recall with
the Alvin Bragg case we knew that he was
indicted because his K because he was
surrendered uh he was given a surrender
date I'm sorry and so we knew that there
was a date he was going to come in and
then he because the indictment was
sealed he then managed to tell the
narrative and and give his version of
things and really spin the story so by
the time he was by the time he was
arraigned there he had the I think he
had the upper hand in terms of The
Narrative of the story of the Alvin Brad
case Well Jack Smith clearly learned
from that and wasn't going to give
Donald Trump uh the weekend to do all
his tweeting and his threatening and his
bullying and going on Fox News and and
you know saying all the things that he
will definitely say okay and instead
went to a judge and had this indictment
unsealed and released it and his press
conference was Jack Smith control
and what it is and what it is and he
urged people to read this indictment he
specifically said that and I urge people
to read this indictment it is not like
Alvin Bragg's indictment that is a Bare
Bones legal indictment which is typical
of most indictments this is what they
call a talking indictment or a speaking
indictment and it tells a story and Jack
Smith told a story here and he urged
people to come read the indictment he
thanked the people who worked on the
case and he said this isn't about
politics this is about one set of laws
that applies to everyone it applies to
everyone in this country and what we do
is we apply the law the facts to the law
nothing more nothing less they adhere to
high ethical standards they will
continue to do so he also reminded
everybody that defendants are presumed
innocent until proven guilty and he also
I think when he said we will to that and
we will seek a speedy trial I think what
he's trying to signal is he recognizes
there's an election coming up and he
wants to to get this done quickly so
that's what the statement spoke volumes
to me and I think that's the purpose
behind the indictment he has to get out
in front of Donald Trump who will go and
try and make this
you know his own sideshow
it was a very short but powerful Press
Conference held by special counsel Jack
Smith of course it was the first time
that we've heard from special counsel
Jack Smith is the first time we've heard
his voice and to your point he
emphasized he wants to pursue a speedy
trial at his office is adhering to the
highest ethical standards he mentioned
the fact that this is National Defense
information and the seriousness and the
gravity of the crimes being charged for
someone who mishandles that and treats
the National Security of our country uh
in such abhorrent ways and then special
counsel Jack Smith invited everybody to
read this unsealed indictment in full
let's talk about this unsealed
indictment uh this indictment was
announced on Thursday we got word about
it of course we reported about it here
on the Midas touch Network we knew there
were going to be a number of charges
including Espionage Act violations which
is the willful retention of National
Defense information we knew there was a
conspiracy count obstruction of justice
but we now have this full unsealed
indictment it is very detailed it has a
very detailed narrative component there
are 38 separate counts uh in this case
both Donald Trump and uh his personal
aide who was a valet When Donald Trump
was in the White House Walt now to then
a personal aide after Donald Trump left
the white house uh is also a criminal
defendant in this case and then of
course there's just a lot of detailed
text messages that were sent from Walt
now to others including Donald Trump's
family members talking about moving the
boxes messages from Walt now to other
employees he's talking about Donald
Trump moving the boxes and then of
course there are photographs of these
boxes that include highly classified
information so there are boxes in a
storage room in a Auditorium room there
are boxes that are in a bathroom and you
see classified documents that are just
like on the floor in a uh in a shower
and those are in this uh indictment so
Karen what were your main takeaways from
this indictment that was just unsealed
so again I I like Jack Smith I urge
everybody to read this indictment it
really does tell a powerful compelling
story of why this is a righteous
prosecution and why this isn't just a
situation of well everybody does it and
you know they found them at Biden's
house and they find classified documents
at Pence's house and it's an accident
and you know and thankfully in his CNN
Town Hall he took that it was an
accident uh defense off the table when
he said I I could possess it you know
there's nothing wrong with me possessing
it and and so he underscored the
willfulness in his own words but what
what Jack Smith uh and the Department of
Justice did in this indictment
is they really just
explained uh to everybody what is in
there and why this is an important case
and why this affects our national
security our military our foreign allies
our foreign enemies and how he really
possessed all of these documents that
were you know he Jack Smith talked about
the different classification levels he
spelled it out so that none of us had to
guess right some people might not know
what's is top secret more is that worse
than classified he spelled all all the
levels and he described them he even
talked about certain levels of class
classification that I have never heard
before one was called No foreign or
something that meant no foreign
government you know people should be
able to have access to this and he
spelled out all the classification
levels and and the briefings that Donald
Trump would get and then he went on to
describe in painstaking details scale
the efforts that the Department of
Justice made to to get these documents
and then the uh the criminal efforts
that Donald Trump with others including
Walt nada
did to conceal them that and they puts
the dates out there of you know on this
date we asked for something and then two
weeks later waltonatta moves the
document the boxes of documents so that
when we go search it you know it's not
it's not there and you know he just goes
through it in in detail
um there was and and so they really just
build a case I mean in some ways it's
like it's like the opening statement of
of the trial is really this indictment
you know they're going to talk about it
who who's Donald Trump who's Walt natto
what do they do who are these documents
what do they mean what is the
classification system who's allowed to
have them who's not what are the facts
that shows that Donald Trump knew that
he wasn't supposed to do this and they
talk about statements that Donald Trump
made during his campaign and while he
was president and so that he knew that
you have to be careful and that these
are things that you know are needed to
protect the nation and then Jack Smith
Goes On To You Know describe with photos
and and and uh evidence
um evidentiary photos in there of that
that's a box of documents of top secret
documents that Spilled Out and Walt NADA
took a picture of it and texted it
saying you know there's there's top
secret uh documents in here and this is
a room that is often unlocked there are
people who come in and out of there and
you know there's another another one uh
in his bathroom right so in his shower
in his bathroom those had had top secret
documents and then there was a ballroom
on a stage which I found stunning that
they said they were classified in top
secret National Security documents in
there and there were thousands of people
who came in and out of there I mean it's
on Mar-A-Lago itself isn't considered a
secure place to have these documents you
know these these documents some of them
are are only allowed to be looked at in
something called a skiff which
stands for I don't even remember what it
stands for
um instead of department and information
facility thank you there you go and and
Mar-A-Lago is not a skiff you know so
you the the fact that he had these
documents that anyone could get to
people went in and out it just really
and and that he didn't do it
unintentionally he did it intentionally
he knew he did it and they talked about
those that recording that we've heard
about uh in Bedminster New Jersey where
he was was waving around
um some kind of paper talking to
somebody in a in the in the mark Meadows
um uh autobiography you know he was he
was showing off that he had talked
secret information going oh but I'm not
supposed to show this to you you know
and whatever like so Jack Smith even
puts that in the indictment to show that
um you know that Trump knew what he was
doing so I just think it's stunning it's
dangerous he's he's a uh he's a danger
to to the world frankly I mean there
were nuclear codes of of a foreign
country I think it was I think you were
you were reading it earlier
um when we were talking about it count
five you know he had the nuclear codes
of a foreign country and I mean it's
just crazy you know the military
capabilities and attack plans I mean the
guy is just dangerous and so this was
this was a willful retention of
information related to the National
Defense and that's what this was
um you know I think it's a very
righteous prosecution and Jack Smith
made the case in this indictment to show
that this was a a righteous prosecution
yeah and I want to let's focus on just a
few more portions of this indictment
that was unsealed you go to page 44 you
see that it was signed by the four
person
um this you know this was uh not
special counsel Jack Smith just doing
this on his own this was not President
Biden right this was the Department of
Justice that appointed a special counsel
the special counsel presented to a grand
jury and a grand jury is who ultimately
voted to indict Donald Trump uh the
evidence against Donald Trump went
before a jury a grand jury of Donald
Trump's peers turning to uh paragraph
three of this unsealed indictment on
page two it talks about how the
classified documents Trump stored in his
boxes included information regarding
defense and weapons capabilities of both
the United States and foreign countries
United States nuclear programs potential
vulnerabilities of the United States and
its allies to military attack and plans
for possible retaliation in response to
a foreign attack the unauthorized
disclosure of these classified documents
could put out risk the National Security
of the United States far relations the
safety of the United States military and
human sources and the continued
viability of sensitive intelligence
collection methods you go to paragraph
six it talks about two specific
occasions where there is actually
recordings and documented proof where
Donald Trump was just showing classified
information and sensitive compartmented
information to just like random people
um in paragraph 6A it talks about how
Donald Trump was showing uh information
about plans regarding a military attack
involving Iran uh to uh to a ghost
writers who were writing Mark Meadows uh
book and then in 6B it talks about
Donald Trump showing a military map
involving classified military operations
to someone affiliated with his political
action organization the uh unsealed
indictment goes on to show those
photographs that we put up earlier where
these documents were being being kept at
Mar-A-Lago how they were just kind of on
the floor you see from this image that
we're showing right now you can actually
see the classified border on the
documents on the bottom right by the box
that's how it was just being kept and
again this is highly highly sensitive
information there's this photograph of
classified information being kept in a
bathroom the com the unsealed indictment
details uh how Walt nauta and Donald
Trump would try to move these documents
to different locations board them on
airplanes bring them to Bedminster and
then just one example of these text
messages there's a ton of examples of
text messages here that shows how uh
special counsel Jack Smith got a lot of
this information about
these documents being moved but you go
to page 22 and page 23 and it talks
about uh here let's go to page 23 uh and
this is from paragraph 58c and it says
on May 30th 2022 at 12 33 PM a trump
family member texted nauta good
afternoon Walt happy Memorial Day I saw
you put boxes to POTUS room just FYI and
I will tell him as well not sure how
many he wants to take on Friday on the
plane we will not have room for them
plane will be full of luggage thank you
and now to reply good afternoon ma'am
smiley face emoji thank you so much I
think he wanted to pick from them I
don't imagine him wanting to take the
boxes he told me to put them in the room
and that he was going to talk to you
about them there's countless other
examples like this but his picking from
the boxes to take classified information
with him from different locations and
we're even hearing from people in
Trump's orbit someone like a lawyer by
the name of Jonathan Turley who's like
the right wing kind of Spin Master who
always talks about the doj's politicized
and all of these things even he's saying
when he went on Fox that this was
incredibly damaging to Donald Trump and
this is a very serious indictment and
very very very damaging final words
Karen Friedman eggniffilo about the
press conference and everything we're
seeing yeah so I
indictment it was red
was written it wasn't written for
lawyers and and judges and I think it
really is important to to to read it
everybody to know it to be able to fight
back when people say but everybody does
it when his supporters say that and I
just think uh there's going to be a lot
more to come here you know that's going
that we're going to see but the
allegations are obviously very very
strong and it's a I think it's great
work that was done by Jack Smith and his
people and people like Evan Corcoran his
his lawyer you know the notes that he
took it's very clear that that was a
road map for Jack Smith to to know that
Donald to show Donald Trump's state of
mind that he was intimately involved in
the packing and the moving of these
boxes and of these documents that he
knew what he had and that this was a
willful intentional obstruction of
justice thank you very much Karen
Friedman agnifolo thank you everybody
who's watching this and we will of
course keep you posted as we learn more
we will do analysis on other aspects of
this indictment we'll do uh analysis of
what we expect to happen next and of
course any breaking news we will bring
to you here on the Midas touch Network
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