Donald Trump Caught on Tape Bragging About Military Secrets: ‘Secret, this is Secret Information’
Former President Donald Trump’s own words may be the evidence that lands him in the hottest water over an investigation
Ivy Griffith
Former President Donald Trump’s own words may be the evidence that lands him in the hottest water over an investigation into classified documents mishandling.
On Thursday, the former POTUS was indicted on 38 federal felony charges, many of which fall under the Espionage Act, and others which include obstruction.
On Friday, CNN broke a story about a new Trump tape where the former President was caught bragging about documents that he did not classify – sensitive documents that he knew contained secret information.
It’s a stunning development in the documents case, and explains why special counsel Jack Smith felt comfortable asking a Florida grand jury to vote on indictments.
Trump will appear in court in Florida on Tuesday, to be arraigned for the new set of charges, which bring his total felony charges up to 72.
But it was the tape that caused the most furor on Friday morning, as Trump critics crowed and allies scrambled to defend the former President’s own words.
In public, Trump has long claimed that all of the classified documents he brought with him after leaving the White House, he declassified under his own Presidential powers. He has called Smith’s investigation a “witch hunt.”
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But the new tape proves that Trump did not declassify the documents – and knew they were sensitive.
Last week, it was reported that prosecutors had obtained the audio recording of Trump’s 2021 meeting at his Bedminster, New Jersey, resort. And now we know what was on that apparently damning tape.
CNN reports, “The transcript of the audio recording suggests that Trump is showing the document he’s discussing to those in the room. Several sources have told CNN the recording captures the sound of paper rustling, as if Trump was waving the document around, though is not clear if it was the actual Iran document.
‘Secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this,’ Trump says at one point, according to the transcript. ‘This was done by the military and given to me.’
Trump was complaining in the meeting about Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley. The meeting occurred shortly after The New Yorker published a story by Susan Glasser detailing how, in the final days of Trump’s presidency, Milley instructed the Joint Chiefs to ensure Trump issued no illegal orders and that he be informed if there was any concern.
‘Well, with Milley – uh, let me see that, I’ll show you an example. He said that I wanted to attack Iran. Isn’t that amazing? I have a big pile of papers, this thing just came up. Look. This was him,’ Trump says, according to the transcript. ‘They presented me this – this is off the record, but – they presented me this. This was him. This was the Defense Department and him. We looked at some. This was him. This wasn’t done by me, this was him.’
Trump continues: ‘All sorts of stuff – pages long, look. Wait a minute, let’s see here. I just found, isn’t that amazing? This totally wins my case, you know. Except it is like, highly confidential. Secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this.’”
Trump’s own words prove that the documents were not declassified – completely dissolving his defense, and throwing his legal team’s plans into turmoil.