Politics

Watergate prosecutor reveals the one thing that could send Trump to prison

Watergate prosecutor reveals the one thing that could send Trump to prison
Donald Trump accused of ‘attempted coup’ at January 6 hearing
Video

A former prosecutor in the Watergate scandal has claimed there is a solid case against former president Donald Trump.

Prosecutor Nick Akerman made the claim in relation to an investigation into Trump’s demand that an official “find” him more votes in the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Joe Biden.

Akerman’s comments came during an appearance on MSNBC’s The Katie Phang Show where he discussed how Trump may be in legal trouble as the Fulton County grand jury investigates his actions.

A recorded phone call between Trump and the Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger heard the former president telling the election official to “find” the 11,780 votes needed to swing the state in his favour.

Prosecutor Akerman told the programme: “If you are asking which of the cases right now, which one is going to send Donald Trump to prison, that is the case.

“There is a really neat three-year felony in Georgia, that Donald Trump has violated. Prosecutors love tape-recorded evidence because you cannot cross-examine it.”

Akerman served as an assistant special prosecutor in the Watergate scandal that famously saw president Richard Nixon resign.

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He continued: “What is significant with those tapes is that when you put it in context of all of the evidence that the January 6 committee has uncovered — you put that together, Donald Trump has zero defence in Georgia.

“If I had to put my money on one prosecution that’s going to go forward here that will send Donald Trump to jail — it’s Georgia.”

In Georgia, it is a crime to willfully, or to solicit someone, to tamper with “any electors list, voter’s certificate, numbered list of voters, ballot box, voting machine, direct recording electronic (DRE) equipment, or tabulating machine”.

Akerman suggested Trump’s only denfense may be to claim “that he did not really mean what he said” on the recordings.

But, he added: “Put in the context about the January 6th committee has found, I think they have gotten a case beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The January 6 committee hearing has so far heard shocking evidence of the lead-up to the riots, as well as what actually took place on Capitol Hill.

It has been heard that Trump was told his plan to try and overturn the election result was illegal, but that he proceeded anyway.

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