The former President of the United States, donald trumpacknowledged having in his possession at least one document classified in 2021, according to an audio recording that was published this Monday by various US media.
In the audio, which was first published by the chain CNN In the “Anderson Cooper 360” program, the former president (2017-2021) is heard talking to several people, including members of his equipmentover a classified document with military information.
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In the recording, of just over two minutes, the Republican is heard saying that he could have declassified the documents when he was in the White Housebut did not.
The audio, from an interview Trump gave in July 2021 at his Bedminster residence, New Jerseyto people who worked on the memoirs of his former chief of staff, Mark Meadowsis a fundamental piece of evidence in the accusation of the special prosecutor Jack Smith due to the former president’s mismanagement with classified information.
The content of the recording has been cited in the indictment filed by the Justice Department at the end of March. However, it is the first time it has been made public.
The accusation of the special prosecutor maintains that those who attended the meeting with Trump — a writer, an editor, and two other members of the writing team Trump — were shown classified information about a pentagon plan to attack an unspecified foreign country.
“These are the papers,” he said. Trump at a moment that seems to indicate that in his hands he had a secret document from the Pentagon with plans to attack Iran. “This was done by the military, they gave it to me.”
A spokesperson for the campaign Trump said the audio recording “provides context that demonstrates, once again, that the president Trump He didn’t do anything wrong.”
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The reference of Trump to something he says is highly confidential and the apparent action of showing documents to someone else at the meeting could undermine the claims he later made in an interview on the network Fox News Channel in which he said he did not have any documents with him.
“There was no document. There was a huge amount of papers, and everything else talking about Iran and other things,” he said. Trump in fox. “I didn’t have a document, per se. There was nothing to declassify. They were newspaper stories, magazines and articles.”
This leak comes a few days after the special prosecutor in charge of the case of the classified documents found in the residence of Trump, jack smithasked to delay the trial until December.
In a court document delivered last Friday night, the US government requested the extension, arguing that the case “has to do with classified information, so the defense will need to obtain the required security clearances.”
On Tuesday, the lead judge in the case had ordered that the jury trial begin on August 14 in Fort Pierce, 208 kilometers from Miami.
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Earlier this month, Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 charges related to the alleged mismanagement of classified documents he kept on his property in sea-a-lake in Palm Beach, Florida.
Of the 37 charges, of which Trump pleaded not guilty, 31 are for knowingly withholding United States defense-related documents. But he is also accused of obstructing the justice and to “corruptly” hide documents or records.
Some of these crimes are punishable by a maximum of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000..
With information from EFE and AP
