Former President Trump can be heard on tape discussing classified documents in a leaked recording obtained by multiple news outlets Tuesday.
The recording reveals a conversation Trump had with aides in which he seems to be holding a Pentagon document detailing plans to attack Iran, despite telling Fox News Host Bret Baier earlier this month that there was no such document.
"These are the papers," Trump can be heard saying in the recording while discussing the Pentagon documents. The former president referenced Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley, who he said had provided a plan of attack for Iran through the Pentagon.
"He said that I wanted to attack Iran, Isn’t it amazing?" Trump says of Milley. "I have a big pile of papers, this thing just came up. Look. This was him. They presented me this – this is off the record but – they presented me this. This was him. This was the Defense Department and him."
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"I was just thinking, because we were talking about it. And you know, he said, ‘He wanted to attack Iran, and what…,'" Trump said.
"These are the papers," Trump continued.
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The ruffling of papers can be heard throughout Trump's statement. The recording appears to conflict with Trump's statements to Fox News on June 19, in which he told Baier that he had not shown anyone a "document."
"There was no document. That was a massive amount of papers and everything else talking about Iran and other things," Trump told Baier. "And it may have been held up or may not, but that was not a document. I didn’t have a document, per se. There was nothing to declassify. These were newspaper stories, magazine stories and articles."
The Tuesday recording also includes Trump discussing his authority to declassify documents, which was a central piece of his defense in earlier accusations on the issue.
"See as president I could have declassified it," Trump said. "Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret."
"Now we have a problem," a staffer can be heard responding.
"Isn’t that interesting," Trump finishes.
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A Trump spokesperson responded to the leaked tape Monday night, arguing it proves that Trump committed no crime.
"The audio tape provides context proving, once again, that President Trump did nothing wrong at all. The President is speaking rhetorically and also quite humorously about a very perverted individual, Anthony Weiner, who was deep inside the corrupt Clinton campaign," the spokesperson told the Daily Caller. "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."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
