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Late last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that there were some disagreements among Justice Department and FBI officials about how best to handle Donald Trump’s classified documents scandal. “What turned the tide,” the article added, “was an audio tape.”
The Journal went on to report that “momentum shifted” in the probe when investigators obtained an audio recording in which Trump "could be heard showing" people working on former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows' autobiography "a document that laid out a U.S. plan to attack Iran.” The tape, the report added, “gave prosecutors direct evidence that Trump knew what he was doing was wrong.”
As of Monday night, it appears the public now has access to the same audio recording. CNN reported:
CNN has exclusively obtained the audio recording of the 2021 meeting in Bedminster, New Jersey, where President Donald Trump discusses holding secret documents he did not declassify. The recording, which first aired on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” includes new details from the conversation that is a critical piece of evidence in special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment of Trump over the mishandling of classified information, including a moment when Trump seems to indicate he was holding a secret Pentagon document with plans to attack Iran.
If you saw our coverage Tuesday night, you know just how devastating the audio recording appears to be. NBC News has since obtained the recording as well.
To briefly recap for those who might benefit from a refresher, in 2021, Trump was recorded referencing a planning document related to Iran, which the former president took with him after leaving office. The Republican had apparently learned of an article in The New Yorker that referenced Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, having played a role in preventing Trump from launching a military offensive against Iran.
This apparently annoyed Trump, who said that he’d held onto a secret war plan related to Iran, which had been prepared by Milley and his team, and which the former president wished he could show the public to help bolster his point pushing back against the general’s comments.
On the newly released recording, we can hear Trump shuffling through papers, and apparently presenting a war plan — which the former president describes as “highly confidential” — to a writer as part of his criticism of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“Secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this,” Trump said, adding, “Isn’t that incredible?” At one point, pointing to Pentagon documents, he also declared, “These are the papers. ... This was done by the military and given to me.”
He went on to say, “As president, I could have declassified. Now I can’t, but this is still a secret. ... It’s so cool.”
In an interview with Fox News last week, host Bret Baier asked about this aspect of the controversy. Trump responded, “There was no document there. ... That was not a document, per se. There was nothing to declassify. These were newspaper stories, magazine stories and articles.”
It now appears he was brazenly lying. The recording, if accurate, suggests Trump took classified materials, knowingly kept the classified materials, deliberately showed highly sensitive materials to someone who didn’t have the necessary clearance, and admitted he lacked the wherewithal to declassify the documents he wasn’t supposed to have.
The public now has access to an audio recording in which the former president appears to effectively walk through the steps of alleged criminal activity, out loud, while sharing his state of mind at the time.
On Monday night, as the political world began to come to terms with the story, Trump turned to his social media platform to declare that what appears to be a highly incriminating audio recording “is actually an exoneration, rather than what they would have you believe.”
This is one of the former president’s underappreciated tells: When he uses the word “exonerated,” it means he’s found himself in real trouble and feels the need to try to gaslight the public. Let’s revisit some of our earlier coverage and take a stroll down memory lane.
In March 2018, Trump claimed that the House Intelligence Committee had completely exonerated him in the Russia scandal. That wasn’t true.
In June 2018, Trump said the Justice Department inspector general’s office had “totally” exonerated him in the Russia scandal. That was both wrong and kind of bonkers.
In February 2019, Trump claimed that the Senate Intelligence Committee had also exonerated him in the Russia scandal. That also wasn’t true.
In March 2019, Trump claimed the judge in a Paul Manafort trial exonerated him, too. That also wasn’t true.
In June 2021, Trump claimed he’d been “totally exonerated” by testimony from former White House Counsel Don McGahn, which was largely the opposite of the truth.
In February 2023, Trump claimed to have “total exoneration” from the special grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia. This was largely not true.
And in June 2023, Trump pretended that a devastating audio recording, in which he appears to have admitted to committing crimes “is actually an exoneration,” as if reality has no meaning.
Either the former president doesn’t know what “exonerated” means or he’s desperately trying to deceive the public about his culpability in a variety of serious scandals.
This post revises our related earlier coverage.