Levin is right except I don't think this leak - all these illegal leaks - are to influence a potential jury... they are to influence public opinion, with a jaundiced eye fixed on the 2024 POTUS election.
The jury is in south Florida where Trump enjoys popularity. Smith and his DoJ dirty tricks team tried mightily to keep Judge Cannon from being assigned the case; they failed. When they wanted a gag order on Trump and his legal team, they went to the same federal magistrate (not the judge assigned to oversee the trial), Reinhart, who approved the grossly unconstitutional Mar-a-Lago search warrant at the start.
x x x x
Let's look at this supposedly condemning audio tape. First, no one has been able to produce the document (a secret military plan to attack Iran.) The raid on Mar-a-Lago did not produce the document AND Donald Trump denies he ever possessed such a document. Jack Smith has to prove that such a document exists and that Donald Trump possessed such a document.
Second, Donald Trump was not under oath when he allegedly made his recorded comment. Perhaps he was just boasting... freedom of speech. I just don't think even a deranged prosecutor such as Smith would try to inject this flimsy evidential material into a trial in south Florida.
No, the purpose of the govt leak is most likely intended to influence public opinion. Good grief, 40% of the country still believes Trump colluded with Russia to beat HRC in 2016; and that in the face of the DoJ IG report, the Mueller sham investigation report plus now the John Durham summary report.
But of course the media is doing their part to condemn Trump, already consigning him to Gitmo or even the gallows. I bet Joe Bitem, Merrick Garland and Jack Smith would give just about anything to hold this trial in D.C.