By Associated Press
Justice Department investigators have obtained an audio recording of former President Donald Trump made after he left the White House in which he talks about holding classified Pentagon documents about a potential attack on Iran, according to news reports.
According to CNN, which first reported on the recording, Trump suggested in the recording that he wanted to share the information contained in the document with others, but that he knew there were limitations on his ability to declassify files after leaving the White House.
Former President Donald Trump plays golf at the Bedminster club in New Jersey on July 28, 2022.Getty Images
The comments in the recording, made in July 2021 at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, appear to undermine the former president's repeated claims that he had declassified documents he brought from the White House to his residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, after the presidency ended. The recording may also be vital for prosecutors investigating whether Trump knew his right to hold classified documents was limited.
The recordings have been turned over to special counsel Jack Smith, whose team of investigators has spent months probing the potential mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, and whether Trump or anyone else tried to obstruct the investigation. The inquiry appears to be in its final stages. Prosecutors have interviewed a large section of witnesses in front of the grand jury.
No one has been formally charged.
The investigation began last year after the National Archives and Records Administration alerted the FBI to the presence of classified documents in 15 boxes sent back, belatedly, from Mar-a-Lago by Trump and his representatives. Investigators initially sent formal requests for the rest of the files to be turned over, but after they only received about three dozen during a visit to Mar-a-Lago in June 2022, they returned with a search warrant two months later and recovered 100 more documents marked as classified.
Special counsel Smith is also investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which is also the subject of an investigation by prosecutors in Atlanta. Prosecutors in New York accused Trump earlier this year of falsifying business records.
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According to a CNN report, the recording was made during a meeting in Bedminster with Trump aides and two people who were working on the autobiography of Mark Meadows, Trump's former chief of staff.
The network said the autobiography includes a description of what appears to be the same meeting. An attorney for Meadows declined to comment Wednesday when contacted by The Associated Press.
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CNN said witnesses, including Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have been questioned about the episode. A spokesman for Milley declined to comment on the report that he had been questioned.
A spokesman for the special counsel also declined to comment.
A Trump spokesman said in a statement that the investigation was "without merit" and meant "continued interference in the presidential election."