Report: Trump Caught on Tape Admitting He Never Declassified ‘Secret’ Military Information
“As president, I could have declassified, but now I can’t.”
According to CNN, a tape has Trump admitting he had “secret” military information he did not declassify as president:
“As president, I could have declassified, but now I can’t,” Trump says, according to the transcript.
CNN obtained the transcript of a portion of the meeting where Trump is discussing a classified Pentagon document about attacking Iran. In the audio recording, which CNN previously reported was obtained by prosecutors, Trump says that he did not declassify the document he’s referencing, according to the transcript.
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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 indictment documents are still sealed. Trump broke the news on Truth Social.
Remember, no one has seen the indictment on charges related to the documents found at Mar-a-Lago. But “sources” told ABC News “that there appears to be at least seven counts here. This ranges from everything from the willful retention of national defense information to conspiracy to a scheme to conceal to false statements and representations.”
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Comments
I never knew what the papers he kept were but this makes it clear that were papers that would exonerate him from the charges made against him. It also explains why the DoJ wanted them back so badly.
How does this exonerate him?
That tape is a very big problem for him legally.
If he didn’t think it was relevant to national security he should have declassified it. Furthermore a lot of Americans will feel that knowing what the senior leadership of the U.S. military considers a red line that should never be crossed is highly relevant. It is people like Mark Milley who advise and influence presidents and have a major impact on shaping what their red lines are. Politically having this to prove where Mark Milley’s red line was…..I really don’t think that helps Trump politically. Mark Milley is not running for anything, and he is not running for anything against Trump either, and Trump made the choice of picking Mark Milley so if Milley’s judgement is bad what does that say about Trump’s choice of officials?
This claimed video assuming it is what CNN says it is demonstrates extremely bad judgement.
I thought classification was irrelevant? Can’t you pathetic hacks even agree on a theory to destroy whatever vestiges of the republic remain?
If you think that classification is irrelevant, you’re the pathetic hack.
Does the Presidential Records Act distinguish between classified and non-classified documents? No, no it doesn’t actually.
The classification is relevant because of the audience and venue and the fact that Trump admitted it was STILL classified.
According to CNN This says it all.
The stench of a site that sides with CNN.
Drudge, Hot Air and now LI.
Like Trump or not…it is We the People that are pissed.
Hot Air has gotten MUCH better with Allapundit gone and Ed in charge.
CNN has no credibility… none, zero, zilch.. so why lead an entire article about what they are reporting.? LI is better than that.
Just last month Trump did a town hall meeting televised by CNN.
So I guess that means that, since it was CNN, I can’t believe anything that Trump said?
LOL, You can believe what ever you want.
As I understand it Trump had his own people recording. Plus the CEo who set that up Chris Licht has been fired for being too right.
Where is Comey when you need him?
“Although there is evidence of potential violations regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case,”
“In looking back into our investigations into the mishandling or removal of classified information, we cannot find a case that would support bringing criminal charges on these facts.”
And this was *after* the Hillary IT tech testified that the server had not been Bleach-Bitt’ed when the subpoena was presented (since he was behind on his tasks) and he was *told* to go ahead and wipe it clean *after* they had received the subpoena. Not one charge, not one day in prison, not a dollar in fines.
So many moles in the Trump Circle… or was this a bug? The later fits the MO of the FBI/DOJ/NKVD-D.C.
Oh, and kudos to Danny for showing the full packet of talking points released to the Dark State’s subordinates! Cut and paste done so well!
You have to admit, it was very informative.
What in fucks name are we looking at? There is nothing that matches anything in the heading 😂😂
Said, not admitted.
If this is going to be decided by a jury, I would NOT want to be on it. I am sure that after they investigated me, I would be suicided and replaced with an alternate. We are so screwed. C’mon people, vote harder!
Who’s the Hillary/Obama/Biden voter at LI that writes your headlines?
Yeah…this is bad.
I want to know how much they are paid to write such.
Bud Light and Target ought to be a lesson.
Mary is a good writer here.. I have always thought so.. maybe I am missing something.. These are troubling times,, jumping on the CNN bandwagon, seriously? A caveat at the end about how many times CNN has screwed up would have at least provided the appearance of some kind of balance. LI wants Trump to fail. The lines are drawn, but this is about more than one candidate, this is about our system of justice being weaponized. SMH..
The person responsible looks cute in her “But Her Emails” hat.
Pure bs to contribute to Operation Chaos.
And here we go. It’s still amazing that people think that Trump is going to be nominated and elected president in 2024. Just ain’t gonna happen. This is just the start. I suspect that democrats still haven’t pulled out all the stops yet. But they are certainly panicking over the thought that Trump might be the republican presidential nominee for whatever reason. Time well tell where this all goes but as they say, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
So the crime is he didn’t expose docs like Clinton(server) and BUYden( lost docs)?
I have some carefully measured words to describe our sainted former Vice President’s responses on matters Trump:
If this filth Pence wants to become merely low, as opposed to lower than low, he should turn himself in forthwith to the morality police, to get his mouth washed out with soap. The next step in his rehabilitation will be to write this 1000 times on a blackboard:
“I will not flaunt my fake piety in public ever again.”
Trump is not my choice this time, but I would support him in Nov 2024 against any Democrat.
georgfelis: And this was *after* the Hillary IT tech testified that the server had not been Bleach-Bitt’ed when the subpoena was presented (since he was behind on his tasks) and he was *told* to go ahead and wipe it clean *after* they had received the subpoena.
That is not correct. A tech for the subcontractor, Paul Combetta, had been asked to set up automatic email deletion after 60 days, a typical procedure for which email servers have a standard setting. He failed to do this. When the subpoena was issued, the subcontractor was directed by Clinton’s office to preserve the emails, but then he tried to clean up his mistake with a mass deletion. That was illegal, but he did it on his own volition.
In any case, the audio recording, on its face, shows a violation of the Presidential Records Act, the Classified Information Procedures Act, and the Espionage Act.
And the laptop was Russian disinformation. Got it.
After Clinton’s behavior in the Russia hoax, among other things, she no longer gets the benefit of the doubt, except from dupes and apologists that love to lecture about rule of law.
In any case, the audio recording, on its face, shows a violation of the Presidential Records Act, the Classified Information Procedures Act, and the Espionage Act.
It does not! The pretzel logic to claim a process crime is not Espionage. Give me a break. Do you here yourself.
oldschooltwentysix: After Clinton’s behavior in the Russia hoax, among other things, she no longer gets the benefit of the doubt, except from . . .
. . . the courts, where someone is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Leakage of classified information into emails is a constant problem, and that is what the evidence indicated. Regardless, “scienter and bad faith which must be present” could not be proven.
oldschooltwentysix: It does not!
Presidential Records Act: War plans are government property.
Classified Information Procedures Act: Trump said the document was classified, and as he was no longer president, he didn’t have the right to continue to possess it.
Espionage Act: War plans are relating to the national defense.
Oops on the attribution.
MarkSmith: It does not!
Nothing in those comments is an admission of anything
I tend to agree. Especially since we don’t have the full story here. CNN is notorious for misleading and downright dishonest snips of stuff (remember how they went after Andrew Breitbart on the Shirley Sherrod lie? Utterly unforgivable.)
To me, and I am not an attorney, it sounds like Trump took evidence that Milley was planning war with Iran without the Commander-in-Chief’s approval (or knowledge?). Milley is a disgusting pile of . . . you know what. Remember when he conspired with Pelosi to limit the president’s authority? These people are beyond belief.
That said, none of this looks good for Trump (they are going to get him on obstruction, not the docs, btw). And the whole poop show is beyond infuriating!
Until we move out of squirrel mode and get focused on what is really important, it is just going to be the same old stuff, year after year, month after month, day after day, hour after hour, minute after minute.
What is happening to Trump is a direct attack on the 4th, 5th, 6th Amend. What is happening to the 1st and 14th with this woke crap and the 2nd with the gun crowd, Our Constitution is hosed. This ain’t about Trump. “Who” is behind it all?
Live Not By Lives.
Agreed. It’s overwhelming, really, and we need this fixed. All the corruption in the Executive branch rooted out and the earth salted. But we can’t do that personally, so we have to keep the pressure on so that the people who can fix this both get elected and have the mandate they need to actually drain the stinking swamp.
He declassified but did not redistribute, and those documents he retained were in certified secure storage.
And, Milley is a warmonger, an Obama/Biden-era [ethnic] Spring aficionado, which explains the dereliction of duty of some Pentagon staff to report their progress to the president.
Wow. Just wow.
No one should believe anything that is being claimed about this audio recording until
(1) Forensic evidence is presented that the recording is genuine and has not been altered in any way.
(2) The entire recording has been made available to the public, so anyone can hear what’s on it.
Neither CNN’s word—nor the DOJ’s-is worth a thing.
Will AI come into play at some point to put words in Trump’s mouth?
https://www.cnn.com/videos/business/2023/05/16/artificial-intelligence-hearing-blumenthal-ai-voice-nc-vpx.cnn
Now, I’m not a lawyer; however, I have played an information technology professional for over 50 years, and so my defense would be:
DEEPFAKE RECORDING.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
LOL. The problem for Trump is the obstruction and lying to the feds charges. This is no longer about documents. You get that, right?
It’s no longer about any particular count, as I see it, except it will be about whatever count they can manage to make stick any way they can. My bingo card says aggravated mopery.
Heh, I see your aggravated mopery and raise you an apathetic deliberate obtuseness. 😉
Trump is his own worst enemy–and I say that as someone who believes the country dodged a bullet when Shrillary Shroooooooo lost to him in 2016.