An audio recording obtained by CNN of former President Donald Trump appears to contain a conversation about his possession of classified material related to a possible military attack on Iran.
The two-minute recording, which dates back to 2021, includes what appears to be Trump's voice joking with an aide and a writer about an alleged dispute between the former president and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley over the possibility of attacking Iran. The recording appears to show Trump rifling through papers and holding an allegedly classified document:
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. See as president I could have declassified it, Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.
Trump goes on to claim that the document is "highly confidential."
The transcript of the tape is part of special counsel Jack Smith's indictment against Trump in connection with his alleged mishandling of classified material. He is expected to play a key role in the government's prosecution case against the former president for allegedly willfully withholding national defense information after leaving office.
The former president reacted to CNN's information by accusing the special prosecutor, the Justice Department and the FBI of leaking a recording that, in his opinion, should be an "exoneration" of the accusations against him.
