New details about the affair surrounding secret service documents owned by Donald Trump are becoming known. Tape recordings prove Trump knew exactly what he was doing.
- “espionage affair” around Trump: Expert sees pressure to act at the US Department of Justice
- ex-president talk about secret documents: Donald Trump tapes surfaced
- influence on the campaign: Trump wants to be the Republican candidate in the 2024 US election
Update from June 1, 2023, 2:30 p.m.: Now Donald Trump has also commented on the new revelations about his person. The former President did not dispute the content. Trump showed no remorse either. On the other hand, in a message on his own social media platform Truth Social, he attacked the Justice Department, which Trump believes was responsible for the publication of the tape recordings. “Are they going to resign and will there be an investigation?” Trump asked.
So far it is not known who is responsible for the publication of the tape recordings with Trump’s statements. The recordings were probably made by writers hired to help Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows write his autobiography. They met Trump in 2021 at his golf club “Bedminster” in New Jersey.
Expert calls Trump’s tape recordings a spy affair
Updated June 1, 2023, 11:40 am: The tape recordings of Donald Trump are making waves in the USA. Ryan Goodman, a former special adviser to the US Department of Defense, sees the case as an espionage affair. “War plans are among the most top secret documents. This puts pressure on the Justice Department to press charges and convict the jury,” the New York University law professor said in a tweet. The matter goes well beyond allegations of obstruction by the authorities.
Tape recordings of Donald Trump occupy the USA
First report from June 1, 2023: New Jersey – In Donald Trump’s orbit, it seems to be the norm to eavesdrop on the people he is talking to. Now, new tapes have surfaced in which the US President openly admits to being in possession of documents that the US Department of Defense has classified as secret. This was reported exclusively by the news channel in the USA CNN. Other US media confirmed the existence and content of the tape recordings from their own sources.
But the recordings prove even more: Donald Trump knew that he should not have possessed the documents classified as secret by the Pentagon. Rather, he was aware that he should have handed in the documents after leaving the White House. This, in turn, could undermine Trump’s argument that he previously declassified any material found on him after leaving office – i.e. the secrecy of the documents was lifted.
Details on the tape recordings of Donald Trump
Trump’s recordings are loud CNN from the summer of 2021, i.e. after Trump’s time in the White House and after Joe Biden took office. Both the news channel and the newspaper New York Times report that the recordings were made at a meeting between Trump and several people. The meeting is said to have taken place at Trump’s Bedminster golf club in New Jersey. They came together to help Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows write his memoirs.
Trump is said to be heard on the recordings saying he would like to pass on a document, but he knows that as a former president he cannot. The document is said to be a letter outlining a possible US attack on Iran. Trump is said to have spoken to those present about Iran for around two minutes.
Tape recordings influence Trump’s election campaign
In August 2022, the FBI searched Donald Trump’s home, the Mar-a-Lago golf club in Florida. The investigators had confiscated numerous classified documents, some with the highest level of secrecy. Trump, who is currently running for the Republican nomination for the 2024 US election, could have committed a criminal offense as a result. A special investigator from the US Department of Justice is investigating the allegations. Trump himself describes it as a politically motivated witch hunt. (with dpa)