Former US President Donald Trump admitted to possessing a “highly confidential” document on Iran, according to a 2021 audio recording released by the CNN network.
The two-minute recording, first released on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” program, concerns a meeting that took place in New Jersey in 2021 where the former president discussed the alleged possession of classified documents that he did not disqualify, in what may be essential evidence in the allegation of mishandling of spicy information to which it pertains.
“I have a big stack of papers…Long pages. (…) This is classified information. (…) This was done by the military, given to me”Trump says in the audio, as the sound of handling multiple pages of paper can be heard.
“Look, as president I could have been disqualified, but now I can’t, you know, but that’s a secret. (…) It’s so great”he added, as a woman was heard to say: “Wow”.
Trump’s reference to something “highly confidential” and its apparent exposure to third parties may undermine his claim in a recent interview with Fox News, where he said he had no such document in his possession.
“There were no documents. 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 declassify. There were newspaper stories, magazine stories and articles”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 aides.
Trump discussed what he described as a “secret” plan regarding Iran, drawn up by General Mark A. Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and 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 target an unspecified foreign country. traps.
Trump pleaded not guilty earlier this month to 37 charges related to the alleged misuse of confidential documents kept at his mansion in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
A spokesman for the Trump campaign said the audio recording released by the press “provides context once again that President Trump has done nothing wrong.”
Source: DN
