In an audio recording Donald Trump discussed a highly confidential document with an interviewer

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WASHINGTON (AP) An audio recording from a meeting in which former President Donald Trump discussed a highly confidential document with an interviewer appears to undermine his later claim that he had no such documents, only clippings. of magazines and newspapers.

The recording, from a July 2021 interview Trump gave at his Bedminster, New Jersey, resort for people working on his former chief of staff Mark Meadows’ memoir, is a critical piece of impeachment evidence. of special counsel Jack Smith to Trump for mishandling. of classified information.

The special counsel’s lawsuit alleges that those who attended the meeting with Trump including a writer, a publisher and two of Trumps staff members were shown classified information about a Pentagon attack plan. in an unspecified foreign country.

These are the papers, Trump said in a moment that seemed to indicate he was holding a secret Pentagon document with plans to attack Iran. It was made by the military, given to me.

Trump’s reference to something he says is highly confidential and his apparent showing of the documents to other people at the 2021 meeting could undercut his claim in a recent Fox News Channel interview that he didn’t have any documents on him.

No document. That was a tremendous amount of papers, and all the other talk about Iran and other things, Trump said on Fox. And it may or may not have been held up, but that is not a document. I have no documents, per se. Nothing should be declassified. These are newspaper stories, magazine stories and articles.

Trump pleaded not guilty earlier this month to 37 counts related to the alleged mishandling of classified documents kept at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, as part of 38-count indictment that also charged his aide and former valet, Walt Nauta. Nauta is scheduled to appear before a federal judge in Miami on Tuesday.

A Trump campaign spokesman said the audio recording, first aired Monday on CNNs Anderson Cooper 360, provides context that proves, once again, that President Trump has done nothing wrong. And Trump, on his social media platform late Monday, said the recording was actually an exoneration, rather than what they would have you believe.

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