Trump captured on tape talking about classified document he kept after leaving White House

Anderson Cooper 360

CNN

News

4.1 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 1 June 2023

⏱️ 42 minutes

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Summary

CNN has exclusively learned from multiple sources that federal prosecutors have an audio recording from a 2021 meeting where former President Trump acknowledged he held onto a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran, which undercuts his argument that he declassified everything. Special counsel Jack Smith has focused on the meeting as part of the criminal investigation into Trump’s handling of national security secrets. Former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe tells Anderson Cooper this evidence could be “really impactful.”

Plus, CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju joins AC360 from Capitol Hill where the House is expected to vote on the debt limit bill after lawmakers approved the debate rule.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Evening on 360 tonight, exclusive and explosive new reporting, the former president on tape
0:06.5	acknowledging he held on to a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran
0:12.0	and prosecutors have the tape.
0:13.8	Also, the vote that nearly did not happen expected any time now on the debt ceiling deal just
0:18.4	hours after barely squeaked onto the House floor.
0:21.9	And rattling Russia, a closer look at the shadowy effort that's getting high profile
0:25.6	results bringing the war in Ukraine onto Russian soil.
0:30.0	We begin tonight with exclusive new reporting.
0:32.1	The prosecutors investigating the former president's handling of classified material have in their
0:36.9	possession a recording from the summer of 2021 in which the former president is telling
0:41.6	people around him in a meeting at his Gulf Resort in Bedminster that he is held on to a
0:46.3	classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran.
0:50.4	As CNN is reporting this undercuts his argument that he declassified everything.
0:55.4	And on the tape, as he spoke, it sounds like he was waving a piece of paper around, raising
1:00.4	the question, was he holding the classified document in question, which goes to what
1:04.5	CNN's Caitlin Collins asked him at CNN's Town Hall earlier this month.
1:09.4	When it comes to your documents, did you ever show those classified documents to anyone?
1:13.7	Not really.
1:14.7	I would have the right to.
1:15.7	By the way, they would declassify it after—
1:16.7	What did he mean not really?
1:17.7	Not that I can think of.
	...

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