CNN
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Federal prosecutors have obtained an audio recording of a summer 2021 meeting in which former President Donald Trump acknowledges he kept a classified Pentagon document about a possible attack on Iran, multiple sources told CNN, undercutting his argument that he declassified everything.
The recording indicates Trump understood he withheld classified material after leaving the White House, according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation. In the recording, Trump’s comments suggest he would like to share the information but is aware of the limitations on his post-presidency ability to declassify the records, two of the sources said.
CNN has not heard the recording, but several sources described it. One source said the relevant part of the document on Iran lasts about two minutes, and another source said the discussion is a small part of a much longer meeting.
Special counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the Justice Department’s investigation into Trump, has focused on the meeting as part of the criminal investigation into Trump’s handling of national security secrets. Sources described the recording as “important” evidence in a possible case against Trump, who has repeatedly claimed he could retain presidential records and “automatically” declassify documents.
Prosecutors have questioned witnesses about the recording and the document before a federal grand jury. The episode has generated enough interest that investigators have questioned General Mark Milley, one of the most senior national security officials in the Trump era, about the incident.
The July 2021 meeting was held at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, with two people working on the autobiography of Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, as well as aides hired by the former president , including communications specialist Margo Martin. The attendees, sources said, did not have security clearances that would have allowed them to access classified information. Meadows did not attend the meeting, sources said.
Meadows’ autobiography includes an account of what appears to be the meeting itself, during which Trump “recalls a four-page report written by Mark Milley (Trump’s former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) himself. It contained the plan of the own general to attack Iran, deploying large numbers of troops, something he urged President Trump to do more than once during his presidency.
The document Trump refers to was not produced by Milley, CNN was told.
Investigators have questioned Milley about the episode in recent months, making him one of the highest-ranking national security officials in the Trump administration to meet with the special counsel’s team. Milley’s spokesman, Dave Butler, declined to comment to CNN.
The revelation that the former president and commander-in-chief has been caught on tape discussing a classified document could increase his legal exposure as he continues his third bid for the White House. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.
A Trump campaign spokesman said the “leaks” are intended to “inflame tensions” around Trump.
“The DOJ’s continued interference in the presidential election is disgraceful and this meritless investigation should stop wasting American taxpayer dollars on Democratic political causes,” the spokesman added.
Asked at a CNN town hall this month if he showed anyone the classified documents he kept after the presidency, Trump replied: “Not really. I would have the right to. By the way, they were later declassified.” .
An attorney for Meadows declined to comment. An attorney for Martin declined to comment.
Smith’s investigation has shown signs of nearing its conclusion, although no criminal charges have yet been filed. A spokesman for the special counsel’s office declined to comment for this story.
The tape now in the hands of prosecutors shows they are not only looking at Trump’s actions regarding classified documents recovered from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, but also what happened in Bedminster a year earlier .
The meeting in which Trump discussed the Iran dossier with others happened soon after The New Yorker ran a story by Susan Glasser detailing how, in the final days of Trump’s presidency, Milley instructed the Joint Chiefs to ensure that Trump did not issue illegal orders and that he was informed if there were any concerns. The story infuriated Trump.
Glasser reported that in the months after the election, Milley repeatedly argued against attacking Iran and worried that Trump “could start a large-scale conflict that was not justified.” Milley and others convinced Trump to take such drastic action, according to the New Yorker story.
In the recording and in response to the story, Trump presents the document, which he says came from Milley. Trump told those in the room that if he could show it to people, it would undermine what Milley was saying, the sources said. A source says Trump refers to the document as if it were in front of him.
Multiple sources say the recording captures the rustling of paper, as if Trump were shaking the document, although it’s unclear if it was the actual document from Iran. There is also laughter in the room that is captured in the recording.
The US military has contingency plans and courses of action that apply to countries and situations around the world.
Honig: Trump prosecutors put ‘in calendar corner’
The meeting took place well before Trump’s team sent 15 boxes of presidential records and classified documents to the National Archives and Records Administration in January 2022 after months of back-and-forth between his team and the agency. records
The Justice Department later obtained additional Trump-branded documents, seizing more than 100 during a search of Mar-a-Lago last August. Trump’s legal team hired people to search other Trump properties, including Bedminster, late last year.
Investigators from the special counsel’s office have also asked in their document-handling and obstruction probe about other scenarios in which Trump might have shown national security documents, such as maps, to others, according to sources . They have also asked several witnesses to share details about Trump’s anger toward Milley.
During the summer of 2021, sources say multiple people were making recordings of Trump as he held conversations with reporters and biographers.
Trump and his lawyers have given several different, often conflicting, explanations for why Trump did not intentionally withhold classified materials in violation of federal law.
Initially, Trump’s allies argued that he had a “permanent declassification order” so that the documents removed from the Oval Office would be immediately declassified. A few weeks later, Trump told Fox News that he might declassify things “Just thinking about it.”
Earlier this year, Trump’s legal team told Congress that the classified material had been inadvertently packed away at the end of the administration. Most recently, Trump told CNN at a town hall that the materials were “automatically declassified” when he took them.
However, there is no indication that Trump followed the legally mandated declassification process, and his lawyers have so far avoided telling the courts whether Trump declassified the records he kept.
This story has been updated with a response from former President Trump’s campaign.
