Portions of the two-minute audio recording were released by plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit against Trump over his handling of classified documents. The recording comes from an interview Trump gave in July 2021 with people working on a biography of Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows.
Prosecutors accuse Trump of showing classified documents to people who were not authorized to see them.
“a big pile of paper”
During the recording, Trump is heard, among other things, discussing allegations that he wants to attack Iran.
– Isn’t it great, says Trump, while someone is heard flipping through papers.
– I have a big pile of papers. This just came out, the former president continued, later adding:
– This shows that I was right. Besides being top secret, this is classified information.
The latter is said in a humorous, perhaps sarcastic tone, and is met with laughter from several people in the room.
“Coca-Cola, please.”
The former president recently claimed, in an interview with Fox News, that he did not bring up any confidential material during the interview, but that it was a matter of various media publications.
Trump was also heard joking about his opponent in the 2016 presidential election, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The audio recording ends with him asking for refreshments:
Bring some Coca-Cola, please.
Trump’s impeachment trial over his handling of classified documents is set to begin August 14 in Florida. The case concerns documents taken to Trump’s residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, when he resigned as president. Trump denies any wrongdoing.
“Unapologetic writer. Bacon enthusiast. Introvert. Evil troublemaker. Friend of animals everywhere.”
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