MAGA Lawyer Freaks Out After Prosecutors Flip Trump Witness

Prosecutors with the DOJ have successfully gotten one of the key witnesses at Mar-a-Lago to flip on the other indicted individuals in the documents case, and one of the lawyers representing Trump's valet Walt Nauta is apoplectic over this. The lawyer, Stanley Woodward, was irate at the news, and accused the Department of Justice of taking "improper" actions to get the witness to flip. But that's not what happened at all, and the whole thing was fairly routine, as Farron Cousins explains.

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*This transcript was auto-generated. Please excuse any typos.

So this week it was officially announced that Sil Tavares, the former IT director at Mar-a-Lago, has indeed agreed to flip cooperate with Jack Smith, a special prosecutor, and testify against Donald Trump and the other defendants in the documents trial in Florida. When this was revealed, Stanley Woodward, the lawyer for Donald Trump's former valet, Walt Nada, became irate. And he actually said in a court filing that the D O J had engaged in improper methods to get tavas to flip. Specifically, Mr. Woodward, who by the way actually used to be Mr. Tavaris's lawyer, that's the one that AVAs recently dropped, got a different lawyer and then changed his tune. But, uh, Woodward says that Tavarus only flipped because the d O J was threatening to hit him with perjury charges. And of course, that's why he ended up having to change his previous testimony. And he now says that he was ordered by Donald Trump and the other defendants to delete the security footage from the Mar-a-Lago server.

So Woodward is trying to whine to the judge that, hey, they only did this. They only got this guy to flip because he was threatened with perjury charges. And to that, the D O J basically says, duh, like, what, what, what did you think was gonna happen? We caught him lying under oath, said, Hey, if you don't tell us the truth, we're going to have to hit you with perjury charges 'cause we've got you pretty black and white on this issue. So Teva said, well, gee, willickers, I don't want to go to jail. I don't wanna be prosecuted. I'll work with you then I'm, I'm assuming this is Mr. Woodward's first week as a lawyer, because even people not in the legal profession know that that is how you get witnesses to flip if you don't have some kind of leverage against them. They have no reason to cooperate with authorities, like if they're just a random witness who is not involved in any crime, but might be close to the defendants.

The only way they would go out there and rat out their friends or former employers is if there is some reason for them to do it. Otherwise they don't have to do it. So, I don't know what Mr. Woodward's actual qualm here is because this is what happens in criminal prosecutions, especially when you're looking at multiple different defendants. You take the low hanging fruit, the person facing, you know, a relatively minor charge, but because they're a relatively minor person, they may not have the means to be able to fight these charges. And they know that even six months in jail could

Financially ruin them, could destroy their, you know, prospects for getting future employment, could ruin their family, could do all kinds of horrible things after, again, just a few months in prison. And they don't want to take that risk. So they accept these deals and say, okay, listen, don't prosecute me. I'll tell the truth now, I'll take back my previous lies, start working with you and I'll tell you everything you know about these guys. That is what happens in criminal prosecutions every single day across the United States. So Mr. Woodward can throw his little hissy fit, he can submit all the filings he wants, saying the D O J did mean things. Cool. You may think that, but that doesn't make it. So what happened is a run of the mill getting somebody to flip situation. And I think what's really freaking you out is that this guy has already told prosecutors that Trump ordered this decision. And even though Trump's not your client, Walt Naugh is, I think you realize that if Trump is ordering these people to do it, and they knew they weren't allowed to do it, that your client is in fact screwed as well. That's what's really freaking you out. You're not mad at the D O J, you're probably mad that you took on a client that you know you now cannot defend.