Donald Trump is under further legal pressure after audio footage emerged appearing to show that the former president was aware that he had retained sensitive and "secret" documents after he left the White House, and no longer had the power to declassify them.
In the two-minute audio obtained by CNN, Trump discusses during a meeting at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, in July 2021 how he was in possession of a "highly confidential" Pentagon paper about a potential attack on Iran.
During the meeting, Trump tells those present that "as president, I could have declassified" the document. "Now I can't, you know, but this is still a secret."
The conversation about the classified document came after Trump was apparently irate about recent media reports that Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley had allegedly talked Trump down from attacking Iran in the final few days of his presidency.
The sound of rustling paper is then heard in the audio as Trump discusses a military document which the former president suggested would undermine what Milley was saying.
The emergence of the tape casts doubt on Trump's defense that he had declassified all the materials still in his possession after he left the White House, including those recovered at his Mar-a-Lago resort in August 2022.
Trump denies any wrongdoing in connection to the classified documents case and pleaded not guilty to 37 federal charges at a courthouse in Miami, Florida, on June 13.
A spokesperson for Trump's campaign told Newsweek that the audio recording "provides context proving, once again, that President Trump did nothing wrong at all."
"The media and the Trump-haters once again were all too willing to take the bait, falling for another Democrat-DOJ hoax, hook, line, and sinker," the spokesperson added.
The Trump audio:
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) June 27, 2023
"See as president I could have declassified it. Now I can't, you know, but this is still a secret."
"Now we have a problem," a staffer responds. pic.twitter.com/ftNqOTnfZn
What Trump says in classified documents tape
Trump: "Well, with Milley—Let me show you an example. 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 [rustling papers]. They presented me this, this is off the record, but they presented me this.
"This was him. This was the defense department and him. We looked at some. This wasn't done by me, this was all sorts of stuff, pages long.
"Wait a minute, let's see here [papers rustling] I just found, isn't that amazing. This totally wins my case. Except it is like highly confidential, secret [laughter]. This secret information. Look, look at this, you attack and..."
Staffer: "Hilary [Clinton] would print that out all the time, you know. Her private emails.
Trump: "No, she'd send it to [former New York Congressman] Anthony Weiner. The pervert. By the way, isn't that incredible? I was just saying because we were talking about and he said 'he wanted to attack Iran...this was done by the military and given to me.
"I think we can probably, right?"
Staffer: "I don't know, we'll have to see. Yeah, we'll have to try to figure out a..."
Trump: "Declassify it. See as president I could have declassified it. Now I can't you now, but this is still a secret.
Staffer: "Yeah [laughter]. Now we have a problem.
Trump: "Isn't that interesting? 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. It's incredible, right?
"Hey, bring some Cokes in please."
