Former US President Trump has always maintained that government files in his Florida home were no longer classified. Audio recordings now released by CNN could undermine that argument.
Donald Trump sits with a few confidants, the atmosphere is relaxed while he apparently shows around several documents and asks the others: “Look at this.” The two-minute recording from 2021 has it all.
Because in addition to some mockery of political opponents, this sentence also falls: “As president, I could have released them, now I can’t,” says Trump about the documents that the conversation with those present is about.
“There was nothing to release”
But what was the reason for this chat about state secrets? “The motivation was possibly to show off. He said to the others: You probably didn’t want to believe me, but now you do,” said former prosecutor Laura Coates on CNN, who made the audio recording public.
It was probably part of a larger discussion about the reasons why he had withheld some classified documents. “Above all, it undermines his previous claims.”
The federal police FBI searched Trump’s property in Mar-a-Lago in Florida last year and confiscated numerous classified documents from his tenure, some with the highest classification level. Trump was charged in the middle of this month because he is said to have kept the sensitive documents on purpose and not returned them even after being asked to do so.
But he denies this again and again, for example in an interview with Fox News last week. “There were no documents, just a big pile of papers and everything, including about Iran,” he said. “I didn’t have any documents. There was nothing to declassify. They were magazine reports and newspaper articles.”
“It couldn’t be more confidential”
It was known that the recording existed. A transcript is part of the indictment against Trump. With the publication now, everyone can get their own picture of Trump’s handling of classified information, said former prosecutor Harry Litman at CNN.
“This recording was central to Trump’s search warrant. There were doubts among the authorities, but this recording convinced them and if you listen you can understand why,” he explained. Trump is talking about an alleged plan by the General Staff to attack Iran. “It’s explosive, it couldn’t be more confidential.”
A spokesman for Trump has described the recording as another scam by the Democrats and the Justice Department, according to US media.