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Trump Was Taped Discussing Sensitive Document He Had Kept After Leaving Office
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Lou Bricano
May 31, 2023, 7:46:48 PM5/31/23
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Federal prosecutors obtained the recording as part of their investigation into
the former president’s handling of classified documents.
By Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan and Alan Feuer
May 31, 2023, 7:21 p.m. ET
Federal prosecutors investigating former President Donald J. Trump’s handling of
classified material have a recording of Mr. Trump from 2021 discussing a
sensitive military document he had kept after leaving the White House, two
people briefed on the matter said.
The recording, in which Mr. Trump also indicated he knew the document was
secret, could undermine his repeated claim that he had already declassified
material that remained in his possession after he left office. Prosecutors are
scrutinizing whether Mr. Trump obstructed efforts by federal officials to
retrieve documents he took with him after leaving office and whether he violated
laws governing the handling of classified material.
The existence of the recording was reported earlier by CNN.
The tape was made during a meeting Mr. Trump held in July 2021 with people
helping his former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, write a memoir of his 10 months
in the White House, according to the people briefed on the matter. The meeting
was held at Mr. Trump’s club at Bedminster, N.J., where he spends summers.
Until now, the focus of the documents investigation has been largely on material
Mr. Trump kept with him at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence in
Florida, rather than in New Jersey.
Mr. Meadows did not attend the meeting, but at least two of Mr. Trump’s aides
did. One, Margo Martin, routinely taped the interviews he gave for books being
written about him that year.
On the recording, Mr. Trump began railing about his handpicked chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark A. Milley, who was described in media accounts
at the time as having guarded against Mr. Trump’s striking Iran in the final
days of the presidency, according to the people briefed on the matter.
Mr. Trump then began referencing a document that he had with him, saying that it
had been compiled by General Milley and was related to attacking Iran, the
people briefed on the matter said. Among other comments, he mentioned his
classification abilities during the discussion, one person briefed on the matter
said. Mr. Trump can be heard handling paper on the tape, though it is not clear
whether it was the document in question.
The Justice Department obtained the recording in recent months, a potentially
key piece in a mountain of evidence that prosecutors have amassed under the
special counsel, Jack Smith, since he was appointed in November to oversee the
federal investigations into Mr. Trump.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/31/us/politics/trump-tape-document.html
*Lock him up*
the former president’s handling of classified documents.
By Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan and Alan Feuer
May 31, 2023, 7:21 p.m. ET
Federal prosecutors investigating former President Donald J. Trump’s handling of
classified material have a recording of Mr. Trump from 2021 discussing a
sensitive military document he had kept after leaving the White House, two
people briefed on the matter said.
The recording, in which Mr. Trump also indicated he knew the document was
secret, could undermine his repeated claim that he had already declassified
material that remained in his possession after he left office. Prosecutors are
scrutinizing whether Mr. Trump obstructed efforts by federal officials to
retrieve documents he took with him after leaving office and whether he violated
laws governing the handling of classified material.
The existence of the recording was reported earlier by CNN.
The tape was made during a meeting Mr. Trump held in July 2021 with people
helping his former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, write a memoir of his 10 months
in the White House, according to the people briefed on the matter. The meeting
was held at Mr. Trump’s club at Bedminster, N.J., where he spends summers.
Until now, the focus of the documents investigation has been largely on material
Mr. Trump kept with him at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence in
Florida, rather than in New Jersey.
Mr. Meadows did not attend the meeting, but at least two of Mr. Trump’s aides
did. One, Margo Martin, routinely taped the interviews he gave for books being
written about him that year.
On the recording, Mr. Trump began railing about his handpicked chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark A. Milley, who was described in media accounts
at the time as having guarded against Mr. Trump’s striking Iran in the final
days of the presidency, according to the people briefed on the matter.
Mr. Trump then began referencing a document that he had with him, saying that it
had been compiled by General Milley and was related to attacking Iran, the
people briefed on the matter said. Among other comments, he mentioned his
classification abilities during the discussion, one person briefed on the matter
said. Mr. Trump can be heard handling paper on the tape, though it is not clear
whether it was the document in question.
The Justice Department obtained the recording in recent months, a potentially
key piece in a mountain of evidence that prosecutors have amassed under the
special counsel, Jack Smith, since he was appointed in November to oversee the
federal investigations into Mr. Trump.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/31/us/politics/trump-tape-document.html
*Lock him up*
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