Federal prosecutors have obtained an audio recording of a summer 2021 meeting in which former President Donald Trump acknowledges that he withheld a classified Pentagon document on a potential attack on Iran, several sources told CNN, undermining the his thesis according to which he would have declassified all the documents seized by the FBI in his Mar-a-Lago residence. The audio would indicate that Trump is aware that he kept classified material after leaving the White House, according to CNN.
In the recording, Trump’s comments suggest he would like to share the information, but he is aware of the limits on his powers to declassify the documents after the presidency, according to two of the sources. CNN did not listen to the tape, but a source said the relevant part on the document concerning Iran lasts about two minutes, while another source said the discussion is a small part of a much longer meeting.
Prosecutors have already heard General Mark Milley, then Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and then the Trump administration’s top national security executive, as a witness.
The meeting in question dates back to July 2021 and was held at the Trump golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, with two people who worked on the autobiography of Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows, as well as collaborators employees of the former president, including communications specialist Margo Martin. The participants, according to the sources, did not have security clearances that would allow them access to classified information. Meadows did not attend the meeting, again according to the same sources.
Meadows’ autobiography includes an account of what appears to be the same meeting, during which Trump “recalls a four-page report typed by Mark Milley himself. It contained the general’s plan to attack Iran, deploying a number of troops, a plan Milley urged President Trump to implement more than once during his presidency.” The document to which Trump refers was not produced by Milley, CNN specified.
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