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Donald Trump has denied all wrongdoing amid reports federal prosecutors have obtained an audio recording of the former president admitting he had retained a classified document after he left office.
During a town hall style interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity on Thursday, Trump was asked about the claims first reported by CNN that Special Counsel Jack Smith' office has received a recording of him openly talking about possessing a secret Pentagon paper during a meeting in July 2021, and that he couldn't show it to others present as he no longer had to power to declassify the document.
A report from The Guardian alleged that the audio recording reveals Trump—the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination—wishing he had declassified the document about a potential attack on Iran before he left the White House in January 2021.
"I don't know anything about it. All I know is this. Everything I did was right," Trump said at the event hosted in Iowa.
"We had the Presidential Records Act, which I abided by 100 percent," he added, in reference to the act implemented in the wake of the Richard Nixon Watergate scandal which means every presidential document must be sent to the National Archives when the president leaves office.
Trump goes on to divert the question to state that President Joe Biden had "1,850 boxes with a lot of classified stuff in, which he's not supposed to have." Classified documents from the Barack Obama era were found at Biden's home in Wilmington, Delaware, in January, as well as at a think tank office the president previously used in Washington D.C.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith as special counsel last November to oversee two criminal investigations—one into Trump's handling of classified documents after he left office and a second probe into whether he interfered with the transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election.
Biden is not under criminal investigation over his handling of the classified documents and cooperated with authorities. By contrast, Trump is accused of ignoring a federal subpoena to hand over all the classified materials that were removed from the White House, then obstructing the federal attempt to retrieve them.
Speaking to Hannity, Trump alleged the probe into his retention of classified materials was politically motivated.
"When you look at it, it's another, it's a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time. It's a hoax," Trump said. "And it has to do more than anything else with trying to interfere with the election."
The audio recording prosecutors are reported to have obtained was recorded at Trump's golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey.
During a meeting with people who were helping to write the autobiography of former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, Trump is said to have brought up that he was in possession of a classified document while discussing media reports at the time which detailed how his Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley talked Trump down from attacking Iran in the final few days of his presidency.
Trump is alleged to have discussed how he had a secret Pentagon paper from Milley and said that if he was allowed to show it to those at the meeting—who did not have security clearance to view classified materials—that it would undermine what Milley was saying.
The sound of papers rustling is said to be heard in the audio recording, although it is unclear if Trump was holding the classified document in question at the time.
The audio was recorded by Trump aide Margo Martin, who regularly taped conversations the former president had with authors to ensure his comments were reported accurately. Martin's laptop and other devices were imaged by prosecutors in January.
Trump has long claimed that he had used his powers as president to declassify all the documents which were recovered at his Mar-a-Lago resort in August 2022 after he left office. However, the alleged audio footage now puts these claims in further doubt as it potentially proves Trump was aware that he had not declassified papers before retaining them.
Trump's lawyers have also never attempted to argue that the top secret materials recovered from Mar-a-Lago had been declassified in any official court filings during the investigation.
Discussing the audio recording reports, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Harry Litman suggested the evidence is "game, set and match" for Trump with regards to potential prosecution.
"An immediate pressing question is whether this document was among those later seized at Mar-a-Lago pursuant to the subpoena or the search warrant. My best guess is yes, because otherwise there would likely have been probable cause to search Bedminster and urgency to try," Litman tweeted.
"And from an evidentiary point of view, audio tape with Trump saying that he's limited in his ability to show classified documents is game, set and match as far as intent and guilty knowledge go. Blows the various 'I am entitled' claims out of the water."
In a statement, a spokesperson for Trump told Newsweek that the "leaks" to the media are "more proof that when it comes to President Trump, there are absolutely no depths to which they will not sink as they pursue their witch hunts.
"The DOJ's continued interference in the presidential election is shameful and this meritless investigation should cease wasting the American taxpayer's money on Democrat political objectives."
About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, and Florida ... Read more