Speaker 1: . Legal experts are once again talking about the possibility of the failed
former President Donald Trump being charged federally under the Espionage Act because
of an audio recording that has now been obtained that is insanely damaging to Trump.
Let me give you the lowdown.
CNN Trump captured on tape talking about classified document he kept after leaving the White House.
The details here are critical.
Federal prosecutors have an audio recording from a meeting in summer of 2021.
Remember, this is after Trump left the White House in which former President Trump acknowledges
he held on to a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran.
Multiple sources told CNN, undercutting his argument that he declassified everything.
Remember, Trump said, I declassified everything I took.
But in this audio recording, Trump actually says, this is classified.
I can't show it to you.
Therefore, he did not declassify it.
The recording indicates Trump understood that he retained classified material after leaving
the White House on the recording.
Trump's comments suggest he would like to share the information, but he's aware of limitations
on his ability post-presidency to declassify records, two of the sources said.
If Trump knows I have something here that has not been declassified, that is because
he didn't declassify it directly counter to his claim that he declassified everything.
Special counsel Jack Smith, who's leading the Justice Department investigation, has
focused on the meeting as part of the criminal investigation into Trump's handling of national
security secrets.
Sources described the recording as an important piece of evidence in a possible case against
Trump.
TRUMP Prosecutors have asked witnesses about the recording and the document before a federal
grand jury.
The episode has generated enough interest for investigators to question General Mark
Milley about the incident.
The July 2021 meeting was held at Trump's golf club in Bedminster, with two people working
on the autobiography of Trump's former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, as well as aides employed
by Trump, including communications specialist Margot Martin.
The attendees did not have security clearances that would allow them access to classified
information.
Meadows wasn't at the meeting.
Meadows autobiography includes an account of what happened at the meeting, during which
Trump recalls a four page report typed typed up by Mark Milley himself containing the general's
plan to attack Iran, deploying massive numbers of troops, something he urged Trump to do
more than once during his presidency.
The document Trump references was not produced by Milley.
This is absolutely stunning in a number of different ways.
There's another article from Business Insider Reports of bombshell Trump Recordings suggests
prosecutors may have grounds to charge Trump under the Espionage Act.
There are a number of important issues here.
Number one, if the audio recording is as described, Trump is admitting that he has unauthorized
possession of a document relating to national defense.
Trump's original claim was, I declassified everything on the way out, either de facto
or through some kind of telepathy or it didn't make sense.
But Trump's claim was, I declassified all of it.
But then Trump is saying in this meeting, when Joe Biden is already President, Trump's
out of the White House, he's saying, I have something here that is classified so I can't
show it to you.
This shows Trump knew it was a lie to say I declassified everything.
Secondly, the meeting took place in Bedminster.
This was not the location of the search warrant that was served.
You will remember the search warrant was served at Mar a Lago.
And we said at the time, if there are documents at Mar a Lago that Trump isn't supposed to
have, there are almost certainly documents at Bedminster.
Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer, said There are almost certainly documents at Bedminster.
And now we have a recording that took place at Bedminster where Trump is there, and he
has a document that he says is classified, a document he doesn't actually have the right
to just take with him.
So we now are expanding the circle of criminality involving multiple Trump homes or golf clubs
or whatever you want to call them.
And then in addition, there are people on the recording who don't actually have the
security clearance anyway and would probably be pretty desperate and pretty incentivized
to keep themselves out of jail.
And so they could actually become witnesses against Donald Trump here.
This is an immense story and we are now going to listen to an interview with one of Trump's
lawyers who is increasingly a TV lawyer, where he seems to be really struggling to explain
this.