CNN says it has obtained an audio recording of a 2021 meeting in New Jersey in which former President Donald Trump discusses the contents of secret documents.
The recording, broadcast on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, includes a moment when Trump seems to indicate he was holding a document regarding possible military action against Iran, according to the report.
Bloomberg has not been able to independently verify the authenticity of the recording in the CNN report.
In the federal indictment against Trump handed up earlier this month, prosecutors said the former president had been recorded during a July 2021 meeting at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, talking about a military “plan of attack” document that was “highly confidential” and “secret.” The government accused him of showing it to other attendees who lacked the required security clearance to see it.
“The audio tape provides context proving, once again, that President Trump did nothing wrong at all,” said Steven Cheung, a Trump spokesman. “The media and the Trump-haters once again were all too willing to take the bait, falling for another Democrat-DOJ hoax, hook, line, and sinker.”
--With assistance from Mario Parker.