In 2021, former President Donald J. An audio recording of Trump discussing what he called a “highly classified” document on Iran, which he admitted cannot be classified because he is not in office. It was just news clippings.
Mr. Portions of the transcript of Trump’s two-minute recording were cited by federal prosecutors in an indictment against Trump on charges of endangering national security secrets by mishandling classified documents after he left office. to retrieve them.
In July 2021, Mr. Her conversation with the publisher and author who is working on a memoir of Trump’s late president, Mark Meadows, was recorded. In it, Mr. Trump, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the head of the Department of Defense, Gen. Mark A. He discussed what he described as a “secret” Iran-related plan drawn up by Milli. In denying Mr. Milley’s account that General Milley feared that the crisis with Iran would prevent him from producing after Mr. Trump loses his re-election bid in late 2020. Trump cited the document.
In case of documents Mr. The audio, which could be used as evidence in the impeachment against Trump, was released publicly for the first time on Monday. via CNN Also obtained by The New York Times.
In an interview with Fox News anchor Brett Baier last week, Mr. Bedminster said: In a taped meeting at Trump’s golf club, Mr. Trump said he was not presenting classified material. Trump insisted. For any “secret” or “top secret” documents, it speaks of “newspaper stories, magazine stories and articles” instead.
But the audio recording of the entire encounter, Mr. Trump is not referring to secondhand accounts, but rather to a specific piece of paper or papers in front of him.
At the meeting at Bedminster Mr. Attending with Trump, Mr. Those who work on Meadows’ biography and Mr. Two of Trump’s own aides. Mr. Trump, in his own narrative, seemed to label or point out to his audience what he described as a document — described in the indictment as an “attack plan” — apparently. story A report published a week ago in The New Yorker described General Milley’s concern that Mr Trump might launch a strike against Iranian interests that would help build a justification for his continued tenure.
“Isn’t it amazing?” Trump says as he shuffles through what he calls “a big pile of paper,” which he can be heard handling on the recording.
“This thing just came up,” said Mr. Trump adds: “It’s him. It’s the Department of Defense and him.
“Wow,” a woman can be heard in the room, followed by a rustle of papers.
“Let’s see,” said Mr. Trump says, adding, “Look.” There is a short pause, during which he shows something to the people in the room, and they begin to laugh.
“It totally won my case, you know,” he says, adding that the documents are “top secret, confidential. It’s classified information.”
“Is that incredible?” Mr. Trump then says, “It was done by the military and delivered to me.”
Then he seems to lean into a piece of advice for book writers. “I guess we can, don’t we?” Mr Trump says. A woman replied, “I don’t know, we’ll have to see, you know, we’ll have to try to find out—”
“Classify it,” said Mr. Trump says. “Look, as president I could have classified it, but now I can’t.”
“Now we have a problem,” the woman says with a laugh.
“It’s really cool,” said Mr. Trump says, eventually inviting someone to bring a Coca-Cola to drink.
In a statement, Mr. Trump’s spokesman, Steven Cheung, declined to comment on much of the recording regarding the candidate’s discussion of key issues, instead referring to former Rep. Anthony D. Weiner’s role in the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server.
“This audio tape provides context that once again proves that President Trump has done nothing wrong,” Mr. Cheung said, Mr. Trump “speaks rhetorically and very wittily about Mr. Weiner” and “blames the media. And Trump-haters are taking the bait.”
Mr. Some of Trump’s lawyers have been aware of the recording since March, when Marco Martin, one of the aides who attended the meeting, was asked about it during a grand jury appearance, according to a person familiar with the matter. Investigators working under special counsel Jack Smith subpoenaed a copy of his tape after that appearance.
Mr. The entire clip undercuts arguments by some of Trump’s allies that he is merely glossing over, exaggerating or misrepresenting what he describes in the recording.
Mr. Trump was accused of illegally possessing 31 personal national security documents and conspiring with one of his personal assistants, Walt Nauta, to thwart the government’s continued efforts to retrieve the records. Trump has been impeached.
Mr. As part of the terms of Trump’s release during his trial, Mr. He was ordered not to speak to Nauta or a list of 84 witnesses who participated in the special counsel’s hearing.
