In a post-presidency audio recording, Trump discussed classified documents

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In a recent audio recording obtained by NBC News, Donald Trump appears to be discussing a sensitive military document and admitting he didn’t declare it when he was president, according to a partial transcript federal prosecutors included in his indictment today. month.

Trump claimed in interviews after his indictment that he was not in possession of the document when he spoke. The indictment of Trump and his aide Walt Nauta included a partial transcript that redacted some names.

In the 2021 recording, first reported by CNN and then obtained by NBC News, Trump is heard talking to an author, a publisher and two Trump staffers at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

In the recording, Trump discusses a document he describes as an attack plan given to him by Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to attack Iran. Trump then said the document included “secret information.”

I have a big pile of papers, Trump said on the recording as he discussed the plan amid the sound of shuffling papers. “They presented this to me. This is off the record. But they presented me this. This was him. This was the Defense Department and him.”

Isn’t it amazing? Trump said, adding that the information at hand was “strictly confidential.”

The special counsel’s office declined to comment on the record.

In an interview last week, Trump told Fox News’ Bret Baier: I don’t have documents, per se. Nothing should be declassified. These are newspaper stories, magazine stories and articles.

A spokeswoman for the Trump campaign insisted the recording proved Trump did nothing wrong.

“The audio tape provides context that proves, once again, that President Trump has done nothing wrong,” the spokesman said in a statement.

He added that Trump “spoke rhetorically” and was also “funny” about former Rep. Anthony Weiner and Hillary Clinton.

“The media and the Trump-haters are once again ready to take the bait, falling for another Democrat-DOJ hoax, hook, line, and sinker.

In the recording, Trump said the document was “secret information,” and the unidentified woman responded, “Hillary prints that all the time, you know?” This appears to be a reference to allegations that Clinton had classified information on a private email server when she was secretary of state.

Trump responded to the recording, “Shed send it to Anthony Weiner,” a reference that some of his emails were on a laptop owned by Weiner, a former congressman who is married to one of Clinton’s top aides.

Trump, on his social media platform Truth Social, made unsupported claims late Monday that investigators had leaked the tape. CNN did not say how it obtained the audio.

On Tuesday, Trump took a different tack by saying in an interview that “it’s bravado” when he shows the papers to the people in the room in Bedminster.

“I would say it’s bravado, if you want to know the truth. It’s bravado,” he told Semafor and ABC News aboard his plane.

I speak and just hold the papers and talk about them, but I don’t have the documents,” he added.

Asked about his earlier reference to “plans” in the papers, Trump insisted he was talking about other materials.

I mean magazines, newspapers, plans of buildings. I have plans of buildings. You know, building plans? I have plans of a golf course.

A federal grand jury indicted Trump in Florida this month on allegations that he kept classified documents he was not supposed to have and that he misled investigators into handling sensitive materials he knew were still classified. .

Read the full indictment.

He was charged with 37 counts, which included 31 counts of knowingly withholding national defense information, as well as other counts that included conspiracy to obstruct justice.

He pleaded not guilty on June 13.

Trump has also been indicted in New York City state court in connection with hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels. He pleaded not guilty to that charge either.

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