Donald Trump heard discussing ‘highly confidential’ documents in new audio recording
- Trump’s reference to something he says is ‘highly confidential’ and his apparent showing of documents could undercut claims he didn’t have any documents with him
- Trump earlier this month pleaded not guilty on 37 counts of wilfully mishandling US government secrets and conspiring to prevent their return
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Former US president Donald Trump can be heard discussing secret documents he had apparently held on to and acknowledging he had not declassified them in an audio recording aired by CNN.
The two-minute recording comes from an interview Trump gave at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club in July 2021 for people working on a memoir by his former chief of staff Mark Meadows.
Parts of a transcript of the recording were cited as evidence in special counsel Jack Smith’s 49-page indictment of Trump on charges he had mishandled classified documents after leaving office.
The audio file played by CNN late Monday, and also obtained by ABC and CBS, includes a moment when Trump seems to indicate he is holding a secret Pentagon document with plans to attack Iran.
You see, as president I could have declassified it. Now I can’t, you know
“These are the papers,” Trump says in the recording, a quote that was not included in the indictment.
He also refers to something as “highly confidential” and “this is secret information” as he seems to be showing something to the others in the room.
“This was done by the military and given to me,” Trump continues, before noting that the document remained classified.
“You see, as president I could have declassified it. Now I can’t, you know,” he says.
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Donald Trump becomes first ex-US president to face criminal charges: lawyer
“Now we have a problem,” one of his staff responds.
“Isn’t that interesting? It’s so cool,” Trump says, and the recording ends with him calling for someone to bring in some Cokes.
Trump’s reference to something he says is “highly confidential” and his apparent showing of documents to other people at the meeting could undercut his later claims in a Fox News Channel interview that he didn’t have any documents with him.
“There was no document. That was a massive amount of papers, and everything else talking about Iran and other things,” Trump said on Fox.
“And it may have been held up or may not, but that was not a document. I didn’t have a document, per se. There was nothing to declassify. These were newspaper stories, magazine stories and articles.”
Trump earlier this month pleaded not guilty on 37 counts of wilfully mishandling US government secrets and conspiring to prevent their return, becoming the first US president to face criminal charges.
The Department of Justice accuses Trump – who is vying to win back the White House next year – of violating the Espionage Act and other laws when he removed classified documents upon leaving office and failed to give them up to the National Archives.
In its indictment, the Department of Justice described evidence including an audio recording from a July 2021 meeting that Trump, who was no longer president, had with an author, a publisher and two of his staff – none of whom had a US security clearance – in which Trump showed them what he called a “secret” and “highly confidential” document.
A Trump campaign spokesman said the audio recording “provides context proving, once again, that President Trump did nothing wrong at all.”
The 77-year-old billionaire is accused of wilfully hoarding dozens of classified documents he took unlawfully to his beachfront mansion in Florida, refusing to return them and conspiring to obstruct investigators seeking their recovery.
Trump trial date set for August in classified documents case
Trump is also accused of sharing sensitive US secrets with people who had no security clearance.
His criminal trial is tentatively expected to begin on August 14, but his legal team is likely to get the preliminary date pushed back by months.
Trump’s aide Walt Nauta’s arraignment on charges of helping the former president hide national security documents was postponed until July 6 on Tuesday because he still did not have a lawyer licensed to practice in Florida.
Lawyer Stanley Woodward told US Chief Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres that he had yet to meet the Florida-based lawyer requirement and so could not enter a plea in the Miami federal case.
Nauta faces charges of helping Trump hide the classified documents from investigators after leaving the White House. He was not in court on Tuesday as his flight from Newark was delayed due to weather, Woodward told the court.
