CNN anchor Abby Phillip checked Trump attorney Jim Trusty when he complained about the Justice Department publicizing the documents case, reminding him it was ex-President Donald Trump who broke the news.

On Wednesday night’s edition of CNN Primetime, Phillip and co-anchor Kaitlan Collins interviewed Trusty about the news that Trump was caught on tape discussing a classified document that he had taken with him when he left the White House, and that the Justice Department is in possession of that tape.

From the start, Trusty tried to cast the entire investigation as a trial-by-media, but Phillip smacked down his very first complaint about the way the raid on Mar-a-Lago came to the public’s attention:

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST: Very significant reporting. Kaitlan, thank you for that. And please stand by.

We now turn to one of the attorneys representing the former president in this investigation. Jim Trusty is here with us.

Jim, thank you for joining us.

And you heard all of that from Kaitlan. But I want to ask you, were you aware of the existence of this tape prior to this report?

JIM TRUSTY, COUNSEL FOR FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah, this is really missing the whole story here. I mean, you guys teased it by saying what great reporting it is, what great journalism. I’m sure you’re happy to have people talking to you.

But this is a leak campaign. This is — let me just —

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIP: I understand what you’re saying. But I’m just wondering — I’m just wondering, do you — did you know that this tape existed? And are there others?

TRUSTY: I am not going to try a case based on the government leaks. But we need to just recognize the significance of the moment, which is DOJ and FBI, or some combination of them, are engaging in a leak campaign.

Now, this actually started three days after the raid on Mar-a-Lago with an unprecedented press conference. You’ve never seen in the history of prosecution an attorney general doing that.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIP: Jim, I just have to —

TRUSTY: And we’re on the same line.

PHILLIP: Jim, I just have to correct you, the Mar-a-Lago raid was publicized by your client.

TRUSTY: Oh, Abby, Abby —

PHILLIP: Former President Trump tweeted out it was happening when it was happening.

TRUSTY: Well, it was a highly publicized moment when dozens of FBI agents hit the — President Biden’s political opposition with a raid. But the point, what I was pointing to, and the common thread here we need to recognize is three days later, for the first time in the history of prosecution — I’ve been in criminal justice 32 years. A prosecutor, the attorney general, stands up and says, I want to announce that we did this raid. And I want to — I want to be selectively transparent. I want to leak out some parts of the warrant.

But nine months later, we haven’t the affidavit. This is consistent. This is leaking evidence in a campaign to justify the unjustifiable.

PHILLIP: All right. A point taken about how you feel about the information being in the public, but the substance of it, these tapes would indicate that former President Trump knew that the documents that he had were classified.

Phillip and Collins continued to call out Trusty’s complaints alleging a campaign of leaks by the Justice Department for the balance of the interview.

Watch above via CNN Primetime.

The post CNN’s Abby Phillip Stuffs Lawyer Over Claim DOJ Publicized Raid: ‘Trump Tweeted Out It Was Happening When It Was Happening!’ first appeared on Mediaite.

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