(Trends Wide) — Former President Donald Trump acknowledged in a recording of a 2021 meeting that he had withheld “classified” military information that he had not released, according to an audio transcript obtained by Trends Wide.
“As president, I could have declassified, but now I can’t,” Trump says, according to the transcript.
Trends Wide obtained the transcript of a portion of the meeting in which Trump discusses a classified Pentagon document on attacking Iran. In the audio recording, which Trends Wide previously reported prosecutors obtained, Trump says he did not declassify the document he referenced, according to the transcript.
Trump was charged Thursday with seven counts in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the mishandling of classified documents. Details of the indictment have not been made public, so it is unknown if any of the seven charges refer to the 2021 recorded meeting. Still, the tape is significant because it shows that Trump understood that the records he had with him at Mar-a-Lago after he left the White House remained classified.
Publicly, Trump has claimed that all the documents he brought with him to his Florida residence are declassified, while criticizing the special counsel’s investigation as a political witch hunt intended to interfere with his 2024 presidential campaign.
Trends Wide first reported last week that prosecutors had obtained the audio recording of Trump’s 2021 meeting at his Bedminster, New Jersey, resort, with two people working on the autobiography of former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows as well. as aides employed by the former president, including communications specialist Margo Martin.
The transcript of the audio recording suggests that Trump shows the document he is discussing to those in the room. Multiple sources told Trends Wide that the recording captures the sound of paper rustling, as if Trump was waving the document, though it’s unclear if it was the actual document from Iran.
This image, part of a Department of Justice court filing on Aug. 30, 2022, shows a photo of documents seized during the FBI’s Aug. 8 search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property. (Photo: Department of Justice)
“Secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this,” Trump says at one point, according to the transcript. “This was done by the military and they gave it to me.”
Trump complained at the meeting about the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley. The meeting came shortly after The New Yorker published a story by Susan Glasser detailing how, in the final days of Trump’s presidency, Milley instructed the Joint Chiefs of Staff to ensure that the former president did not issue illegal orders and that he was informed. if there were any concerns.
“Well, with Milley…uh, let me see that, I’ll show you an example. She said that she wanted to attack Iran. Isn’t it amazing? I have a big stack of papers, this just came up. Look. This was him,” Trump says, according to the transcript. “They presented this to me, this is unofficial, but, they presented this to me. This was him. This was the Department of Defense and him. We look at some. This was him. This wasn’t done by me, it was him.”
Trump goes on to say: “All kinds of things: long pages, look. Wait a minute, let’s see here. I just found, isn’t that amazing? This totally wins my case, you know. Except it’s like, highly confidential. Secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this.”
“Secret” and “confidential” are two classification levels for confidential government documents.
In March, prosecutors subpoenaed Trump for the document referenced in the 2021 recording. Trump’s lawyers provided some documents related to Iran and Milley in response to the subpoena, but were unable to find the document itself.
Federal prosecutors are investigating Trump for mishandling classified documents brought to Mar-a-Lago and obstructing the investigation. Trump’s attorney said the former president received a subpoena from the Justice Department to appear in court Tuesday in South Florida.
The Mar-a-Lago investigation is one of two led by Smith, who was appointed special counsel in November by Attorney General Merrick Garland. Smith’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election is still ongoing.
