OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany is arguing that the audio tape of former President Donald Trump discussing confidential material that was made public is yet another example of the federal government’s lack of credibility.
During an appearance on Fox News, host Sean Hannity and McEnany discussed the latest CNN recording in which Trump is heard ruffling documents and talking about a Department of Defense strategy about Iran.
“That’s been violated by somebody. I don’t know, why do I assume that a leak to a liberal outlet likely didn’t come from some conservative but maybe somebody close to that special counsel? Just a guess. I don’t know. What do you think, Kayleigh?” Hannity asked.
“Yeah, you know, Sean, it’s absurd, but that is a key point. I sit here and I see these things, these details of the case in a court of law by a special counsel come in, and they’re aired on CNN. We get a transcript of the tape. We get an audio recording of the tape. How does that happen?” McEnany asked.
“How was that not violative of the process? And at the time when — I saw today an NBC poll, in the 30 percentile is the approval rating of the DoJ and FBI, we need confidence in our government, in our institutions, and this doesn’t instill much when this is getting leaked to the likes of CNN,” McEnany continued.
“I’m sorry, whataboutism is called equal justice and equal application of our laws. And considering they didn’t raid any of the four locations Joe Biden had top-secret classified documents and they certainly let Hillary off the hook and our enemies had access to a lot of that information and she deleted another 33,000 subpoenaed emails and she got away with that,” McEnany added.
Hannity jumped in and said: “And she got away with the dirty dossier that ended up being used for FISA application, none of which were true, I’m standing by my original monologue that said we have a corrupt government and we have a weaponized DOJ and a weaponized FBI and the American people, I think, are seeing it more and more. It’s becoming more transparent every day.”
WATCH:
Special Counsel Jack Smith and his team have filed a response to a request from lawyers representing Trump to delay his trial over alleged mishandling of classified documents until at least after the 2024 election.
Trump’s team filed its request with U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, whom Trump appointed, in southern Florida earlier this week, seeking an indefinite delay in the trial which resulted in 37 charges following an unprecedented FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in August 2022.
Smith’s team argued that Cannon “should not even consider” the request from Team Trump:
The United States files this reply in support of its Motion for Continuance and Proposed Revised Scheduling Order (ECF No. 34, “Mot.”). In their response in opposition to the Motion (ECF No. 66, “Resp.”), Defendants Trump and [Walt] Nauta claim unequivocally that they cannot receive a fair trial prior to the conclusion of the next presidential election, urge the Court to withdraw the current scheduling Order (ECF No. 28), and request that the Court not even consider a new trial date until some unspecified later time. Resp. at 9, 10.
There is no basis in law or fact for proceeding in such an indeterminate and open-ended fashion, and the Defendants provide none. For the reasons discussed below and in the Government’s Motion, the Court should reset the trial date in this action for December 11, 2023.
The response from Smith’s team also goes on to refute Trump’s attorneys’ point by point.
“Defendants’ claim that this Court could not select an impartial jury until after the presidential election does not justify further delay here. Resp. at 9. First and most importantly, there is no reason to credit the claim,” the Smith team argued.
“Our jury system relies on the Court’s authority to craft a thorough and effective jury selection process, and on prospective jurors’ ability and willingness to decide cases based on the evidence presented to them, guided by legal instructions from the Court,” the filing continued.
“To be sure, the Government readily acknowledges that jury selection here may merit additional protocols (such as a questionnaire) and may be more time-consuming than in other cases, but those are reasons to start the process sooner rather than later,” it added.
Earlier in the week, Cannon turned down a request from special counsel Jack Smith’s team not to delay a preliminary hearing in the case involving both Trump and his valet Nauta that was initially scheduled for Friday.
Cannon agreed to reschedule the hearing until July 18.
