'Nothing better': Bombshell audio of Trump pressuring MI canvassers 'powerful evidence' for Jack Smith

As Donald Trump's legal troubles continue to aggressively mount, The Detroit News issued a bombshell report by Craig Mauger revealing audio recordings Thursday of the former president pressuring two Michigan county GOP canvasser's not to certify the 2020 election results.

Per Mauger's reporting, Trump and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told Wayne County canvassers Monica Palmer and William Hartmann on the November 17, 2020 call that "they'd look 'terrible' if they signed the documents after they first voted in opposition and then later in the same meeting voted to approve certification of the county's election results, according to the recordings."

Special counsel Jack Smith's former colleague Karen Friedman Agnifilo and former special counsel at the Department of Defense, Ryan Goodman, during an interview with CNN's Erin Burnett, insisted the recordings are "damaging" to Trump, and "powerful for Smith.

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"[Trump] said, from Craig's reporting, that it would be 'terrible' if these two canvassers signed the documents," Burnett emphasized, noting the MAGA hopeful "continues to say, 'We've got to fight for our country. We can't let these people take our country away from us.' How big of a deal is this recording now that we know some of what's on it, Karen?"

Agnifilo replied, "For a prosecutor, there's nothing better than a defendant's own words on tape doing and saying the exact thing you accused them of doing. So for Jack Smith, this is extremely powerful evidence of Donald Trump's corrupt intention, and his pressure campaign on the local level, which is part and parcel of what he's charged with in this sweeping Jack Smith indictment — the January 6 indictment — there's a whole section on there on the pressure campaign to the states, including Michigan. And so this is just direct evidence for Jack Smith and will be front and center at the trial. I also think that the fact that he's saying, 'We'll get you lawyers. We'll pay for your lawyers' — In some ways, I would argue that that's evidence that he knows what he's asking them to do is illegal. And so I think it's extremely powerful evidence for a prosecutor."

Burnett asked, "Ryan, what's your takeaway?"

Goodman replied, "Similarly, I think that this is very damaging information against Donald Trump. The one line that also stuck out to me is Ronna McDaniel on that call says quote, 'Do not sign it, we will get you attorneys.' So, who's the 'we'? It's her and they're on the call with somebody else — President Trump at the time. 'We'll get you attorneys' means they're all aware that they're, at minimum, skating the line of illegality, if not going right over it. It fits in with the pattern of conduct that is the theory of the case for Jack Smith. And it's not only the pattern of conduct that's in the indictment in which Donald Trump is pressuring Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in Georgia, pressuring [former] Arizona [Congressman] Rusty Bowers (R). But also [former Vice President] Mike Pence, which is a key part of the case, and here is the same kind of pattern of conduct. What is the president doing? He's pressuring the individual to do something that is completely outside the bounds of their legal authority to throw the election. I think that's the way in which Jack Smith will present it to the jury, and it's as Karen said, the fact that it's the defendant himself on audio, makes its incredibly credible for the jury."

READ MORE: Testimony from top Michigan Republicans links fake electors scheme to Trump reelection campaign

Watch the video below or at this link.

- YouTube youtu.be

Mauger's full report is available at this link.

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