CNN reports audio recording of Trump talking about classified document; Trump rivals for Republican nomination defend him against indictment
Fresh off the news that Donald Trump is being indicted on several felonies related to possessing classified government documents, CNN reports this morning that an audio recording has emerged of him bragging about keeping a “secret” military document that had not been declassified.
“As president, I could have declassified, but now I can’t,” Trump says, according to a transcript of the recording that CNN obtained. The network reports that the audio recording captures the sound of paper rustling, indicating that Trump may have actually been waving the document around as he was talking about it.
Former President Donald Trump acknowledged on tape in a 2021 meeting that he had retained “secret” military information that he had not declassified, according to a transcript of the audio recording obtained by CNN.
“As president, I could have declassified, but now I can’t,” Trump says, according to the transcript.
Joe Biden has a long day of travel in North Carolina, which will give the traveling press corps plenty of opportunities to ask him what he thinks of the charges against Trump.
Principal deputy White House press secretary Olivia Dalton will brief reporters around 10.30am eastern time, and you can bet that she, too, will be asked about the indictment.
Matt Gaetz, a prominent Trump ally in the House of Representatives, is the subject of a new investigation by the chamber’s ethics committee, Punchbowl News reports. It’s unclear what matter they are looking into, but earlier this year, Gaetz said the justice department ended a sex trafficking inquiry into him without charges.
