By Jeremy Herb | CNN
CNN has obtained an exclusive audio recording of a meeting that took place in Bedminster, New Jersey, in 2021. The meeting featured President Donald Trump discussing undisclosed documents that he chose not to declassify.
This recording, which was first aired on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” contains new information from the conversation that serves as a crucial piece of evidence in the indictment of Trump by special counsel Jack Smith regarding the mishandling of classified information. Notably, Trump can be heard implying that he possessed a secret Pentagon document outlining plans to attack Iran.
“These are the papers,” Trump states in the audio recording while discussing the Pentagon attack plans, a quote that was not included in the indictment.
During the two-minute audio recording, Trump and his aides engage in banter about Hillary Clinton’s emails after Trump refers to the document as “secret information.”
“Hillary would print that out all the time, you know. Her private emails,” one of Trump’s staffers remarks.
“No, she’d send it to Anthony Weiner,” Trump responds, prompting laughter from those present as he alludes to the former Democratic congressman.
Trump’s remarks in the audio recording, including his statement that “these are the papers,” along with his references to something he describes as “highly confidential” and seems to be showing others, cast doubt on his previous claims in an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier where he denied having any documents with him.
“There was no document. That was a massive amount of papers and everything else talking about Iran and other things,” Trump asserted on Fox. “And it may have been held up or may not, but that was not a document. I didn’t have a document, per se. There was nothing to declassify. These were newspaper stories, magazine stories, and articles.”
Earlier this month, Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 counts related to the alleged mishandling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
The audio recording is from a July 2021 interview that Trump gave at his Bedminster resort for individuals involved in the memoir of Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff. The indictment by the special counsel alleges that during this interview, which included a writer, a publisher, and two of Trump’s staff members, classified information regarding the Iran attack plan was shown.
This particular incident is one of two mentioned in the indictment where prosecutors claim that Trump showed classified information to individuals without security clearances.
CNN previously reported that at the time, Trump was angered by a New Yorker article about Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley. The article stated that Milley opposed striking Iran and expressed concern that Trump would initiate a full-scale conflict.
The special counsel’s office declined to comment, and CNN has sought comment from Trump’s attorneys.
‘I have a big pile of papers, this thing just came up’
The audio recording obtained by CNN begins with Trump stating, “these are bad sick people,” while his staffer claims there was a “coup” against Trump.
“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 remarks, according to the audio.
The subsequent part of the conversation largely matches the contents of the indictment, although the audio makes it clear that there are papers being shuffled as Trump mentions having an example to show.
“He said that I wanted to attack Iran, Isn’t it amazing?” Trump says as the sound of papers shuffling can be heard. “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.”
In the indictment, ellipses are used to indicate where the recording obtained by CNN includes Trump and his aide talking about Clinton’s emails and Weiner, whose laptop led to the brief re-opening of the FBI’s investigation into her handling of classified information before the 2016 election.
According to the audio recording and the indictment transcript, Trump then returns to the Iran document.
“I was just thinking because we were talking about it. And you know, he said, ‘He wanted to attack Iran, and what…,'” Trump says.
“These are the papers,” Trump continues, according to the audio file.
“This was done by the military and given to me,” Trump elaborates, before acknowledging that the document remains classified.
“As president, I could have declassified it,” Trump remarks. “Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”
“Now we have a problem,” his staffer replies.
“Isn’t that interesting,” Trump reflects.
The audio recording obtained by CNN contains several additional lines from the conversation:
Trump: “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.”
Writer: “No, I believed you.”
Trump: “It’s incredible, right?”
Writer: “No, they never met a war they didn’t want.”
Trump: “Hey, bring some, uh, bring some Cokes in please.”
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