Former President Trump heard in audio recording seeming to show and discuss secret documents at his NJ golf club. The Iran memo isn't among the records underlying Trump’s illegal retention charges, a source confirms @CBSNews pic.twitter.com/UgPQeRRPYt
— Catherine Herridge (@C__Herridge) June 28, 2023
Iran memo not among the 31 records underlying charges in Trump federal indictment
Washington — The Defense Department memo on Iran — at the heart of the now-public audio recording that captured a July 2021 meeting with former President Donald Trump — is not part of the 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information charged in special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment of the former president, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to CBS News.
In the recording of the meeting at Trump’s Bedminster, New Jersey golf club, the former president can be heard apparently showing and discussing what he described as “highly confidential, secret” documents with aides. Sources say the documents were related to plans for a potential U.S. attack on Iran.
“It is like highly confidential, secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this,” Trump said in the audio tape obtained by CBS News. “See, as president I could have declassified, but now I can’t, you know…Isn’t that interesting? It’s so cool.”
The document and recording are described in the indictment Smith’s team secured against Trump earlier this month, recounted as an alleged meeting with “a writer, a publisher, and two members of” Trump’s staff, “none of whom possessed a security clearance.”