New recording shows Trump discussing ‘secret’ documents he did not declassify: report

A newly released audio recording obtained by CNN includes former President Trump discussing holding onto classified documents in a 2021 meeting in Bedminster, N.J.

The recording, which first aired on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” on Monday night, offers new insights into a conversation that is a piece of evidence in special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment against Trump over mishandling classified documents and attempting to keep them from the government. According to the indictment, the conversation took place during an interview with an author and book publisher at his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey on July 21, 2021.

The two-minute recording suggests Trump was holding pieces of classified information about the Pentagon’s plans to attack Iran. The recording begins with Trump saying, “These are bad sick people,” while his staffer pointed to Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“Like when Milley is talking about, ‘Oh you’re going to try to do a coup.’ No, they were trying to do that before you even were sworn in,” the staffer said on the recording.

Trump’s response was largely included in the indictment, but the audio also included Trump and his aides poking fun about the emails of Hillary Clinton. According to the indictment, the conversation included the author, a publisher and two members of Trump’s staff.

“He said that I wanted to attack Iran, isn’t it amazing? I have a big pile of papers; this thing just came up. Look. This was him. They presented me this — this is off-the-record, but they presented me this. This was him. This was the Defense Department and him,” Trump said on the recording, as the sound of papers shuffling could be heard in the background.

After Trump pointed out that the document was “highly confidential” and had “secret information,” one of his aides said, “Hillary would print that out all the time, you know. Her private emails.” The former president then said, “No, she’d send it to Anthony Weiner,” who is a former Democratic member of Congress representing New York.

“I was just thinking, because we were talking about it. And you know, he said, ‘He wanted to attack Iran, and what…” Trump said before adding, “These are the papers.”

Other lines from the conversation, including Trump saying the document was still classified, but “as president I could have declassified it,” were included in the indictment. In an additional part of the recording, Trump said, “It’s incredible” before asking someone to “bring some Cokes in please.”

“It’s so cool. I mean, it’s so — look, her and I, and you probably almost didn’t believe me, but now you believe me,” Trump said.

A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team told The Hill they had no comment at this time.

Updated at 9:55 pm. EDT.