What A Day - More Charges, More Problems

Episode Date: July 28, 2023

Former President Donald Trump is facing additional charges in the case over his handling of classified documents. The superseding indictment accuses Trump, along with two of his aides, of trying to delete security video from Mar-a-Lago to keep federal investigators from viewing it. The new charges came down hours after Trump's legal team met with special counsel Jack Smith in Washington, D.C., indicating that Trump will soon face another indictment over his bid to interfere with the 2020 election.And in headlines: the Justice Department opened a civil rights probe into the Memphis Police Department, a judge has given opponents of Atlanta's 'Cop City' more time to gather signatures to stop the project, and this month is already on track to become the hottest July ever recorded.Show Notes:What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastCrooked Coffee is officially here. Our first blend, What A Morning, is available in medium and dark roasts. Wake up with your own bag at crooked.com/coffeeFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

It's Friday, July 28th. I'm Traevel Anderson. And I'm Priyanka Arabindi, and this is What A Day, where we have no choice but to join everyone else who is dunking on San Francisco. Listen, it's nothing personal. It's just that the planet is on fire, and you all are complaining about the cold. Yeah, you can throw on a sweater, maybe even some socks. All of us, though? I don't know, We're running out of things we can take off. On today's show, the Justice Department is investigating the Memphis Police Department following the killing of Tyree Nichols earlier this year. Plus, this month is shaping up to be the hottest month ever on record.

It is so hot, my lord, today. But first, as we were getting ready to record this show, news broke that federal prosecutors filed new charges against former President Donald Trump in the classified documents case. We'll get to that in just a moment, but let's first start off with the fact that we are still on indictment watch. A little over a week ago, Trump said that he received a letter from the Justice Department informing him that he is a target of the investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. So any logical-minded person has been waiting patiently for the shoe to drop and him to be indicted for a second time by the feds and for the third time this year.

Well, yesterday morning, Trump's lawyers met with prosecutors from special counsel Jack Smith's office, which sent the news media into a frenzy as such meetings, which are not uncommon in high profile cases, are supposedly a sign that an indictment or charging decision is on the horizon. Right. I mean, there is a lot to keep straight here. First, there is the classified documents case. There is this one about the election interference. There is New York. There is Georgia. Like, there is so much. So feel like your head's spinning a little bit. We're not alone, but we're here to help you keep everything straight. Let's go back to this meeting, though. Do we know what happened in this meeting? So not

really. Typically though, these meetings basically give the defense a chance to present their best argument as to why their client should not be charged. But rarely do these presentations actually change the prosecutor's minds. That said, Trump did post a message on his bootleg social media platform, Truth Social, after the meeting saying, quote, my attorneys had a productive meeting with the DOJ this morning, explaining in detail that I did nothing wrong, was advised by many lawyers,

and that an indictment of me would only further destroy our country. So do with that info what you want to. That said, if and when charges do happen, which could be later today or next week, according to some reports, we here at WOD will have you covered with a special episode. So stay tuned for that. Definitely.

OK, so let's get back to the rest of the news from D.C., the federal grand jury in Florida that's investigating Trump over his handling of classified documents dropped a big news bomb on all of us. We learned that a new indictment was filed in that case, adding some additional charges to the already long list of very serious charges

that Trump is up against. So to get the latest on all of this, we called up former U.S. attorney and L.A. Times legal affairs columnist Harry Litman. You can break him down into two categories. So one is, you remember the old indictment had him waving around a piece of paper that might have something to do with Iran. Well, they've now buttoned that down. And I think they probably talked to the people he showed it to and they said, yep, we recognize that. So it's a new count of abuse of classified documents and actually showing it to others, which is kind of a whole new category. And then the other and the more

serious is a mini conspiracy with Walt Nauta, who already was there, but then a new guy who's just come into the scene named Dave Oliveira. Yes. Who worked with Nauta and they have dead to rights. He lied repeatedly and all three of them. He talks to Trump, et cetera. He tells the head of sort of I.T. they want to delete security footage.

And, you know, stop and think about that for a while. Why would you possibly want to delete security footage and you know stop and think about that for a while why would you possibly want to delete security footage and is there any benign explanation i don't think so but so they have a separate conspiracy with real penalties and it's pretty clear that jack smith went to dale lavera and said look you lied like. I can't charge you with conspiracy and lying unless you cooperate, because it seems so obvious that he should just fess up what Trump told him. It's good evidence. And otherwise, he's looking at real exposure. And he declined and Smith went ahead and charged him. So there's a sort of mini three-person conspiracy that's quite sort of ham-handed and amateurish to try to delete the security footage when they found out about it. Let's get into that specific classified document that's part of these charges.

You know, what more have we learned about that document and how this charge relates to everything? So a couple of things. First, we've learned, we didn't know before, the U.S. got it back. They got it back in that January date when things were first returned because they identify it. But second and most important, we already knew it was an incendiary document because it concerns potential plans to attack. Well, they don't identify it specifically in these terms in the indictment, but we already knew it was a complete red-hot document talking about plans potentially for attacking Iran. But we know now, most

importantly for the federal law, that when he brandishes it around, and you can hear a tape that we heard before, you can actually hear the paper flapping. There are now witnesses apparently who said, yep, I saw it because that's a whole different charge. So we now have number 32 charged with documents in the indictment. And it actually says he showed it to those people who were there helping prepare Mark Meadows' biography. I also want to go back to this additional person, Carlos de Oliveira, who has been charged here. Who is he and what has he specifically been accused of doing in all of this? Yeah, he's just sort of a guy who works at Mar-a-Lago. And when Walt Nalta at Trump's direction is moving out 60 boxes, moving back 30.

I think he just had the bad luck to be dragged into helping. You know, now to spend his whole life with Trump. But as soon as they learn the day after they learn the DOJ would like the surveillance footage, he panics and he begins to ask these nervous, unbelievably inculpatory questions. How long does security footage last? And is there a way to get rid of it? And there's a flood that maybe he has something to do with trying to destroy them. And he also has conversations with Trump and tells the main IT guy, the boss, we know who that is, wants this deleted. So he's a guy who kind of, I think, stumbles into helping Trump and Nalda with a flagrant and really both amateurish,

but also unmistakable scheme to cover up evidence that they think is going to show what exactly what it does show moving stuff out moving and hiding documents that he's going to attest that oh i don't have any more i've given it all back it's like having a bank tape that catches you red-handed and can you somehow get rid of it that's the ham-handed plot that the three of them engage in. But the weird thing to me, as a prosecutor, when I heard about this guy, and he initially just did the party line, and the party in Trump land means lying all the time. Oh, I don't know anything about that. We didn't do anything, etc. They catch him dead to rights. And he is then looking at a conspiracy to suppress evidence and also the separate lies. And you would think a guy like that would right away roll over.

And, you know, I'm sure they offered him a very good deal to explain what Trump had said to him. Right. And he decided not to do it. It's kind of the mob boss dynamic of the whole Trump family. So they said, we're going to charge you. And sure enough, they did. Got it. All of this goes without saying, but the previous charges in this case were already very serious. I'm curious, how do you feel like these charges change the situation, make it worse? Like how has this been affected by the addition of these new charges?

Now, as you said, it already seemed very strong and there didn't seem to be a good explanation. But to the extent Trump was going to try somehow to actually say, I honestly thought they were mine. I'm the president. I can do whatever I want. This strikes me as very strong evidence, because if you think they're yours and can do what you want why are you entering into a conspiracy to try to destroy surveillance footage right if all it's showing is you legitimately with your kingdom and your documents so i think it's an extra charge but

in addition to that it really i think strengthens the entire case it's just not tenable for him to try to claim, oh, I thought everything was fine and dandy and it was all good. And remember, on this one document he's now been charged with, he actually cops to saying, I can't declassify this anymore. I should have before. That's also, you know, hurts his explanation. But the big thing is that they're trying to do anything they can.

And he's on the phone and part of it to get rid of surveillance tapes. That's killer evidence. Prosecutors will love that. That was former U.S. attorney and friend of WOD, Harry Littman. We will, of course, keep you updated on any other news coming out of all of this. But that is the latest for now.

We'll be back after some ads. Let's get to some headlines. Headlines. The Department of Justice has launched a civil rights investigation into the Memphis City Police Department over whether its officers systematically discriminate against Black residents. The announcement comes seven months after the killing of Tyree Nichols. You'll remember that Nichols, who was Black, sustained fatal injuries after a group of officers pulled him over, chased him down, and viciously beat him. U.S. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clark said the probe wasn't triggered by any specific incident, but the DOJ has received reports from the community that police are using excessive force more frequently.

It's unclear how long the investigation will take, but we know that similar probes the Justice Department has launched into other local police practices and patterns, such as in Louisville and Minneapolis, took about two years. The civil rights attorneys representing the Nichols family released a joint statement on Thursday saying, quote, The activists protesting the planned construction of Cop City, the proposed $90 million training facility for Atlanta police, were handed a huge legal victory yesterday.

A judge has given them another 60 days to collect signatures from Atlanta residents to put the issue on the ballot, and also ruled that non-residents can help gather those signatures. The last time we covered this story back in June, we told you that Atlanta's city council voted to allocate $31 million in public funding towards the facility's construction despite widespread public opposition. Activists have been trying to gather 70,000 signatures to force a referendum on the issue and specifically whether or not cop city can be built

on city-owned land thursday's decision means that cop city opponents now have until september 25th to reach that threshold mary hooks one of the lead organizers of the effort said of the ruling quote cop city has been marred time and time again by the silencing of democratic input and repression of community participation. And since the launch of this campaign, we have been playing on a field tilted in the city of Atlanta's favor. That they certainly have, but this is an exciting victory. Let's hope it keeps coming. Absolutely. If this summer has felt unusually and maybe even unreasonably hot, you're not alone. We only have a few days left in July, but according to UN climate experts, this past month is officially on track to become the hottest

month on record. And to make matters worse, this past month was the hottest June ever. Super hot, even in places that I don't want to talk about, if you know what I mean. Yep. Definitely unreasonable. Definitely. The news came on the same day that President Biden announced that the Department of Labor is putting employers on notice to protect workers from heat-related injuries. Biden also unveiled a new initiative to develop better weather prediction alerts to notify companies of their obligations, along with a multi-million dollar package to boost climate resilience programs in the western states.

All of this comes as 40% of the U.S. population is going into the weekend under some form of heat advisory. Listen, I am glad that someone is trying to do something about this, because unusual, unreasonable, all of the above could be used to describe the temperatures that we have been seeing this summer. It is not just in your head. It is everywhere and it is not okay. And finally. Yesterday marked 40 years since a little known singer from Bay City, Michigan, burst onto the pop music scene with her debut album, aptly named Madonna.

She was just 24 years old when it came out. It reached five-time platinum album status and skyrocketed her into her decades-long career. Madonna is currently recovering from a serious bacterial infection, but in a recent post on Instagram, she says that she is still planning to hit the road for her celebration tour this October. 40 years. Wow. Like what a career she has had. Absolutely. And you know, I'm not even too much of a fan of Madge

as they call her, but 40 years, you have to give credit where credit is due. To be still doing pop music after 40 years, it's a really big deal. So shout out to her. An icon. And those are the headlines. One more thing before we go.

If you have completed the Barbenheimer double feature challenge and still can't get it off your mind, you need to tune into this week's episode of Keep It. Louis Vertel and guest co-host Matt Rogers unpacked this summer's biggest blockbusters with a scene-by-scene analysis, so make sure you've seen both movies if you want to avoid any spoilers. You'll also hear from RuPaul's Drag Race legend Shea Coulee. What doesn't this show have? Listen to this jam-packed episode of Keep It wherever you get your podcasts.

New episodes drop every Wednesday. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review. New episodes drop every Wednesday. check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Priyanka Arabindi. I'm Trayvail Anderson. And bundle up San Francisco. I mean, we all know you have those branded Patagonias. Throw them on. This is what they're there for. Meanwhile, the rest of us are sweating our behinds off.

We'll just be stripping layers over here, but it's fine. You just get to pile them on. Well, today's a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lance. Our show's producers, Itzy Quintanilla, Raven Yamamoto, and Natalie Bettendorf are our associate producers. Our intern is Ryan Cochran, and our senior producer is Lita Martinez. Our theme music is by Colin Gillyard and Kashaka.