Federal prosecutors have obtained a recording of a summer 2021 meeting in which former President Donald Trump acknowledges that he kept a classified Pentagon document about a possible attack on Iran, according to a report published Wednesday by CNN. The recording is incriminating evidence against Donald Trump, who has sometimes claimed that he had declassified all the documents that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) found in the search of his Mar-A-Lago mansion in Palm Beach (Florida).
According to CNN, citing multiple sources familiar with the investigation, the recording indicates that Trump was aware that he withheld classified material after leaving the White House. Trump's comments suggest he would like to share the information, but at the same time admits that he is aware of the limitations of his ability after the presidency to declassify records, according to the information.
CNN says its journalists have not listened to the recording, but that multiple sources have told it its contents. One of the sources noted that the relevant part about the classified document on the Iran attack plan lasts about two minutes and another source said the discussion is a small part of a much longer meeting.
Trump is being investigated for the possible commission of several possible crimes related to the classified confidential documents he took to Mar-A-Lago. The recording may be key in the face of a possible indictment of the former president in the investigation led by special prosecutor Jack Smith, appointed by the Department of Justice.
Trump's lawyers have recently requested a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland in connection with Smith's investigations, according to a letter released by the former president himself on his social network. In it, lawyers say Trump is being treated unfairly by Smith and his team. The special counsel is in charge not only of the investigation into the classified documents of Mar-a-Lago, but also of the one referring to his attempts to retain power after being defeated by a large majority by Joe Biden in the 2020 elections.
According to Wednesday's report from CNN, prosecutors have asked several witnesses about the recording and the classified document referenced in it before the grand jury handling the case. One of those questioned was Gen. Mark Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, one of the highest-ranking national security posts of the Trump era.
The audio-recorded meeting was held in July 2021 at Trump's golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, with two people working on the autobiography of Trump's former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, as well as aides employed by the former president, including communications specialist Margo Martin, according to the network, Remember that Meadows' book talks about what appears to be the same meeting.
According to the autobiography, at that meeting Trump "recalls a four-page report typed by Mark Milley himself. It contained the general's own plan to attack Iran, deploying massive numbers of troops, something he urged President Trump to do more than once during his presidency."
The meeting of the recording came shortly after The New Yorker published a report in which it was claimed that, in the final days of Trump's presidency, Milley instructed military commanders to ensure that Trump did not issue illegal orders. Milley was also said to have repeatedly argued against attacking Iran and that he worried Trump could launch an unwarranted large-scale conflict. The article argued that Milley and other officials convinced Trump not to take such drastic action.
In the taped meeting, Trump tries to respond to the report with the document, which he said came from Milley. Trump told those in the room that if he could show it to the people, it would undermine what Milley was saying, according to the sources, because it would show that the Pentagon had a more aggressive and warmongering attitude toward Iran, although in reality the military has contingency plans for many hypothetical situations that do not imply that it advocates carrying them out. One source says Trump refers to the document as if he had it in front of him, and some say the recording captures the sound of rustling paper, as if Trump was waving the document, though it's unclear if it was the actual document on Iran.
Moving papers
The investigation into the classified papers is progressing and in recent weeks some other information about it has transcended. The Washington Post revealed that two Trump employees moved boxes of papers at Mar-a-Lago just one day before the Justice Department visited the former president's residence with a request to collect classified documents.
According to the newspaper of the capital of the United States, investigators see that movement as an indication that points to a possible crime of obstruction of justice. Investigators have evidence, according to the Washington Post, that the former president kept classified documents in a conspicuous place in his office and had shown them to other people. He would also have conducted "a 'dress rehearsal' to move sensitive papers" together with his team before they were summoned in May 2022.
Trump, who has been convicted in a civil lawsuit for sexual abuse, has other judicial fronts open. A New York judge has set for March 25 the trial of the case in which he is charged with 34 counts of falsehood derived from three payments to hide scandals (one of them an extramarital affair with porn actress Stormy Daniels) in the 2016 presidential campaign.
Fulton County Prosecutor Fani Willis, who is investigating whether he illegally interfered in Georgia's 2020 election, has said she plans to announce in the coming months whether to file charges. Willis has hinted that possible indictments will come in August. · In a recent letter to county Superior Court Chief Judge Ural Glanville, he said he plans to have much of his staff work remotely most days during the first three weeks of August and asked that judges not schedule in-person trials and hearings for part of that time for security reasons.
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