Former US president can be heard acknowledging documents had not been declassified in audio recording
\nNew York
\nFormer US president Donald Trump can be heard discussing secret documents he had apparently held on to after leaving the White House and acknowledging they had not been declassified, in an audio recording aired by US media.
\nThe two-minute clip, played by CNN late Monday and later obtained by ABC and CBS, 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.
\nParts of the recording\u2019s transcript were cited as evidence in special counsel Jack Smith\u2019s 49-page indictment of Trump on charges he had mishandled classified documents after leaving office.
\nThe audio file includes a moment when Trump seems to indicate he is holding a secret Pentagon document with plans to attack Iran.
\n\u201cThese are the papers,\u201d Trump says in the recording, a quote that was not included in the indictment.
\nHe also refers to something as \u201chighly confidential\u201d and \u201cthis is secret information\u201d as he seems to be showing something to the others in the room.
\n\u201cThis was done by the military and given to me,\u201d Trump continues, before noting that one would need to \u201cdeclassify it\u201d for it to be used in the book.
\n\u201cYou see, as president I could have declassified it. Now I can\u2019t, you know,\u201d he says.
\n\u201cNow we have a problem,\u201d one of other people responds.
\n\u201cIsn\u2019t that interesting? It\u2019s so cool,\u201d Trump says, just before the recording ends with him calling for someone to bring in some Cokes.
\nTrump earlier this month denied 37 counts of wilfully mishandling US government secrets and conspiring to prevent their return, becoming the first US president to face federal criminal charges.
\nAfter the recording was released, Trump lashed out on his Truth Social website, calling Smith \u201cderanged\u201d and baselessly accusing the prosecutor of conspiring with the Justice Department and FBI to \u201cillegally\u201d leak and mischaracterize the tape. He claimed the audio was \u201cactually an exoneration, rather than what they would have you believe.\u201d
\n\u201cThis continuing Witch Hunt is another ELECTION INTERFERENCE Scam. They are cheaters and thugs!\u201d he posted.
\nThe government accuses 77-year-old Trump — who is vying to win back the White House next year — of willfully 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 is also accused of sharing sensitive US secrets with people who had no security clearance.
\nHis criminal trial is tentatively scheduled to begin on August 14, although Smith has already applied to have the date put back to December.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former US president can be heard acknowledging documents had not been declassified in audio recording New York Former US president Donald Trump can be heard discussing secret documents he had apparently held on to after leaving the White House and acknowledging they had not been declassified, in an audio recording aired by US media. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295546,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-340470","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n