Name: Trump Says He 'Did Nothing Wrong' After Audio Recording Emerges in Documents Case
Uploaded: 2023-06-29T19:20:48.000Z
Description: Former President Donald Trump is saying he behaved appropriately and had not shown a classified document after CNN aired a July 2021 audio recording of him talking about an attack plan against Iran.

Christina Corona is a California-based reporter for NTD News. She primarily covers California news, politics, and entertainment.  

Christina Corona

NTD Plus

News

News with integrity, from the U.S. and around the world. Focused reports and analyses that shed light on major issues the world deserves to know. NTD Evening News airs daily at 6 p.m. ET.

NTD Evening News

Multiple Wildfires Burn Across California

Jack Bradley is a Washington correspondent for NTD News based in Washington, D.C. Jack previously anchored "NTD Newsroom" and worked as an assistant producer for the show. 

Jack Bradley

China Hawks Brat, Steel Testify for Ambassador Roles

Arian Pasdar is an international correspondent for NTD News based in South America. His reporting focuses on immigration and key events in Latin America.

Arian Pasdar

Putin, Xi Sign 'Multipolar World Order' Declaration but Fail to Agree on Pipeline

Cary Dunst is the news anchor for NTD Evening News. He is also the co-host of NTD Good Morning.


Cary Dunst

'Raúl Castro Killed a Lot of My Friends': Retired CIA Operative Celebrates Indictment

Dave Martin is NTD's Senior Sports Reporter and sports analyst. He also hosts "Data Hub" segments during NTD's special election coverage, "The Nation Decides."

Dave Martin

Knicks' Comeback vs. Cavs Has NYC Buzzing

Russia's Putin Arrives in China for Talks With Xi

Sandy Fire Burns Nearly 1,400 Acres

Arleen Richards is NTD's legal correspondent based at the network's global headquarters in New York City, where she covers all major legal stories. Arleen holds a Doctor of Law (J.D.).


Arleen Richards

Blanche Defends Request For 13 Percent Funding Increase

David Lam is a national correspondent based in California and a part-time anchor for "NTD Tonight." Before joining NTD he was a financial analyst.

David Lam

Police Identify 3 Victims in San Diego Mosque Shooting

Logic Useless Against 'Radical Jihadist Regime': Middle East Expert

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 21)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 20)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 19)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 18)

Chris Beers is an NTD News anchor and political correspondent based at the network's global headquarters in New York City. Chris co-anchors "NTD News Today" weekdays at 10:00 am ET.

Chris Beers

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 17)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 16)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 15)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 14)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 13)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 12)

Flora Hua is a reporter based at NTD's global headquarters in New York City, where she covers China news, U.S.-China relations, and human rights issues. Flora primarily contributes to NTD's "China in Focus."  

Flora Hua

Fast, compelling, first-hand news from China. China in Focus airs Monday–Friday at 8 p.m. ET.

China in Focus

Trump: Seized Iranian Ship May Have ‘A Gift From China’

The Associated Press is an American not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. 

The Associated Press

US News

State News

California

More Than 17,000 Under Evacuation Orders as Southern California Wildfire Threatens Homes

Joseph Lord is a congressional reporter for The Epoch Times.


Joseph Lord

Aldgra Fredly is a freelance writer covering U.S. and Asia Pacific news for The Epoch Times.

Aldgra Fredly

Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani Hospitalized in Critical Condition: Spokesman

Wildfires Across Georgia and Florida Have Destroyed Nearly 50 Homes and Are Forcing Evacuations

NTD Newsroom comprises teams of reporters, editors, and producers assigned to cover breaking news and other stories.


NTD Newsroom

News you can trust from the U.S. and around the world. Critical information and insight. We cover the stories that others don’t. NTD News Today airs Monday–Friday at 11 a.m. ET.

NTD News Today

US Warns of China Hacks via Routers, Smart Devices

Juliet Song is an international correspondent exclusively covering China news for NTD. She primarily contributes to NTD's "China in Focus," covering U.S.-China relations, the Chinese regime's human rights abuses, and domestic unrest inside China.

Juliet Song

2 Americans Among Suspected Communist Rebels Killed in Clashes With Troops, Philippine Officials Say

Ryan Morgan is a reporter for The Epoch Times focusing on military and foreign affairs. He was previously a news writer for NTD. 


Ryan Morgan

Mari Otsu is NTD's White House correspondent based in Washington. 

Mari Otsu

World News

Middle East

Iran

3 US Warships Fend Off Iranian Attacks, Trump Says Ceasefire Still Holds

US Government Sues Chick-fil-A Over Religious Rights

Health News

3 Dead in Suspected Hantavirus Outbreak on Cruise Ship in Atlantic Ocean: WHO

Haika Mrema

Medical Plane Crash in New Mexico Mountains Kills 4, Sparks Wildfire

Former President Donald Trump is saying he behaved appropriately and had not shown a classified document after CNN aired a July 2021 audio recording of him talking about an attack plan against Iran.

CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2023/06/26/trump-audio-classified-documents-ac360-vpx.cnn" target="_blank" rel="noopener">aired</a> an audio recording on Monday night in which it sounds as though Trump is describing military planning for an attack on Iran. Elements of the audio recording appear to match up with a segment of special counsel Jack Smith’s federal indictment (<a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.648653/gov.uscourts.flsd.648653.3.0_8.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pdf</a>) against Trump, which describes a July 2021 meeting between Trump, a writer, a publisher, and two members of his staff, where they discussed the attack plan while interviewing Trump for a memoir about his former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

In the July 2021 recording, Trump said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley formulated an Iran attack plan, despite claims circulating in the media that Milley feared Trump would start a war with Iran.

“[Milley] said that I wanted to attack Iran, isn’t it amazing? I have a big pile of papers; this thing just came up,” Trump can be heard saying in the audio recording. “Look. This was him ... This wasn’t done by me, this was him. All sorts of stuff, pages long, look.”

The sound of papers shuffling can be heard in the recording before an unidentified speaker says, “Oh my gosh.”

“I just found, isn’t that amazing? This totally wins my case, you know,” Trump responds. “Except it is, like, highly confidential, secret, this is secret information."

It's unclear from the conversation and sounds of documents shuffling alone what document Trump was describing in the recording. In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Trump said there had been a pile of documents on his desk during the conversation but none that specifically contained classified or sensitive national defense information.

"I had a whole desk full of lots of papers, mostly newspaper articles, copies of magazines, copies of different plans, copies of stories, having to do with many, many subjects, and what was said was absolutely fine and very perfectly," Trump told Fox News. "We did nothing wrong. This is a whole hoax."
<h2>Trump Says He's Not Concerned About Audio Recordings</h2>
Trump said the release of the audio recording amounted to "election interference, more than anything else," but again said there was no indication he had acted inappropriately with classified documents.

Fox News asked Trump whether he was concerned about his voice appearing on the recording.

"My voice was fine. What did I say wrong on those recordings? I didn’t even see the recording. All I know is I did nothing wrong," Trump replied. "We had a lot of papers, a lot of papers stacked up. In fact, you hear the rustle of the paper. And nobody said that I did anything wrong other than the fake news, which of course is Fox, too."

Fox News then asked Trump if he was aware of any additional audio recordings pertaining to his handling of classified documents.

"I don’t know of any recordings that we should be concerned with because I don’t do things wrong," Trump said. "I do things right. I’m a legitimate person."

While stating he acted appropriately with government documents, Trump repeatedly referenced the discovery of classified documents in President Joe Biden's possession, as well as claims the Biden family engaged in bribery and influence peddling schemes.

"I’m not like Biden that gets hundreds of millions of dollars from people and countries," Trump said.
<h2>Says Iran Discussion Exonerates Him</h2>
In his initial response to CNN airing the audio recording, Trump said the recording exonerates him.

It’s not clear precisely when in July 2021 the alleged conversation between Trump and the writer and publisher took place.

On July 15, several news media outlets began to publish excerpts of the book “I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year” by Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker. Those book excerpts included claims that Milley feared Trump would attempt a coup or start a war with Iran in order to stay in office after the 2020 election.

Trump denied the coup allegations and lambasted Milley in a July 15 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210715170857/https://www.donaldjtrump.com/news/statement-by-donald-j-trump-45th-president-of-the-united-states-of-america-07.15.21-04">press statement</a>. The audio recording that CNN obtained and aired may have been a continuation of Trump’s efforts to dispute the Iran attack allegations circulating in the press at the time.
<h2>Declassification and the Special Counsel Case</h2>
The July 2021 audio recording is briefly described in Smith’s special counsel indictment against Trump. The former president and leading 2024 Republican presidential candidate faces 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information and additional counts for allegedly obstructing investigations and withholding documents from officials attempting to retrieve them.

Trump has repeatedly <a href="https://www.ntd.com/trump-i-declassified-all-materials-at-mar-a-lago_823991.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed he declassified documents</a> that he took from the White House during and after his presidency, including the documents found at his Mar-a-Lago resort that form the basis for the federal indictment.

Prosecutors could present the audio recording at trial and argue that it shows Trump hadn’t declassified all the documents in his possession. Smith's special counsel team has already asserted in their indictment against Trump that the recording indicates he either showed or described a classified document to people who lacked security clearances to view them.

In addition to his assertions that he declassified documents, Trump told Fox News that he is legally protected by the Presidential Records Act and a 2012 court ruling that he referred to as the "Clinton Socks Case." The case Trump described was a decision by a federal judge to reject a request by Judicial Watch to compel the National Archive and Records Administration (NARA) to collect and then divulge recordings former President Bill Clinton had retained from his time in office. Clinton had reportedly kept dozens of these tapes in his sock drawer.

"I'm covered by the Presidential Records Act. I'm covered also by the Clinton Socks Case. It's a very important case. It's law," Trump told Fox News on Tuesday.

Legal analyst Mike Davis—who served as a legal counsel to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), as clerk for a federal judge, and who now heads the Article III Project—<a href="https://www.ntd.com/trump-has-the-right-to-retain-any-presidential-records-under-the-presidential-records-act-analyst_925452.html">has also argued that Trump is protected</a> by the federal ruling on the Clinton-era recordings.

Latest

Videos

Politics

04_Top Stories

Latest Clips

Trump Document Investigation

Donald Trump

Trump indictment

Trump Indictments

Donald Trump Indictment

Special Counsel Jack Smith

Latest and breaking news, documentaries, movies, and lifestyle content on NTD+.
 
Empower your knowledge and elevate your spirit with NTD+, your go-to destination for truthful news, insightful documentaries, and captivating lifestyle content that enriches your life.