Former US President Donald Trump admitted to being in possession of a “highly confidential” document about Iran, according to an audio recording, dated 2021, released by the CNN network.
The two-minute recording, first released on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360”, concerns a meeting that took place in 2021 in New Jersey, where the former president discussed the alleged possession of secret documents that he did not disqualify, in what could be essential evidence in the accusation of incorrect handling of condimental information to which it is the subject.
“I have a big pile of papers…Long pages. (…) This is classified information. (…) This was done by the military, given to me”, says Trump in the audio, while the noise of handling several pages of paper is heard.
“See, as President, I could have disqualified, but now I can’t, you know, but that’s a secret. (…) It’s so amazing,” he added, as a woman is heard saying, “Wow”.
Trump’s reference to something “highly confidential” and its apparent exposure to third parties may undermine his assertion in a recent Fox News interview, in which he said he had no such document in his possession.
“There was no document. It was a huge amount of newspapers and everything about Iran and stuff,” Trump told Fox News.
“I didn’t have a document per se. There was nothing to downgrade. It was newspaper stories, magazine stories and articles,” he argued.
The recording captured Trump’s conversation with a writer and editor working on a memoir by his last chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and with aides.
Trump was discussing what he described as a “secret” plan regarding Iran, drawn up by General Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Department of Defense.
Special Counsel Jack Smith’s indictment alleges that participants in the meeting with Trump — including a writer, an editor and two members of Trump’s staff — were given classified information about a Pentagon plan to attack an unspecified foreign country.
Trump pleaded not guilty earlier this month to 37 counts related to the alleged misuse of confidential documents kept at his mansion in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
A spokesperson for the Trump campaign said the audio recording released by the press “provides context proving, once again, that President Trump has done nothing wrong.”
*With Lusa
