The Department of Justice (DOJ) has an audio recording of former President Trump discussing a classified Pentagon document he took to the White House, CNN reported Wednesday.
Trump’s comments on the document, which would detail a potential US attack on Iran, come from a July 2021 meeting at the former president’s golf club in Bedminster, NJ
While chatting with two people working on an autobiography for his former chief of staff Mark Meadows, Trump referenced the document but suggested he couldn’t show it to others, who lacked security clearances. according to CNN.
The former president reportedly claimed the document came from General Mark Milley, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. However, CNN said he was told he had not produced the document.
Milley was questioned about the incident by investigators investigating Trump’s handling of classified documents, according to CNN. Special Counsel Jack Smith was appointed last fall to oversee DOJ investigations into Trump, including the classified documents case.
The meeting took place several months before the National Archives and Records Administration retrieved the first batch of documents from Trump’s residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida in January 2022.
The Department of Justice became involved after the National Archives discovered classified documents among the boxes of documents. This would eventually subpoena Trump for any remaining classified material, later culminating in the FBI’s search for Mar-a-Lago last August.
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