Alina Habba, a spokesperson for former President Donald Trump, told Newsmax on Tuesday the Department of Justice erred by allowing audio of Trump apparently discussing Pentagon documents related to a possible invasion of Iran to be leaked to CNN.
The audio was from a July 2021 interview Trump gave at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club for people working on the memoir of his former chief of staff, Mark Meadows. The 37-count federal indictment of Trump — he pleaded not guilty to all counts — alleges those in attendance, a writer, publisher, and two Trump staff members, were shown classified information about a plan of attack on Iran.
"The fact that they did this was a major mistake," Habba told "Rob Schmitt Tonight." "They've become so desperate that they need to use the media to play into their hands for the 2024 election as we've seen. But what happened was we forget that there was a judge order that nobody, including President Trump, could discuss any evidence.
"President Trump hasn't needed to discuss evidence because we're not desperate. We know the facts, and he did nothing wrong. They're desperate. So, what are they going to do? They're going to taint the jury pool. They're going to taint the American public's perception."
She said all that Trump said on the leaked tape is that he can't declassify documents because he's no longer president, which is true, because he wasn't president at the time. But Trump didn't say the documents weren't declassified.
"He was saying presidents can declassify, [and] as a nonpresident, you can't," Habba said. "That has nothing to do with it. It's a red herring. It's exactly what they're doing. They take cuts and pieces – just like the indictment. They put it together, and they make the American people believe the story like La La Land that they create.
"It's not. In fact, there is no two sides. It's just one side, and it's pieces."
Habba said the only source of this leak was the Justice Department.
"There has to be some evidence [that] it came from the DOJ," she said. "Why? Because they're losing. They're losing in the polls, they're losing in the media, and they're losing this case," Habba said. "That's what happens."
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