Trump talks about secret documents in audio released by the US press

An audio recording obtained by news organizations reveals former US President Donald Trump discussing secret documents about a plan to attack Iran while speaking to a writer after leaving office in 2021.

Federal prosecutors cited parts of the conversation in an indictment last month that he illegally withheld classified government documents and then conspired to obstruct a federal investigation.

, the Washington Post and the New York Times published the audio clip Monday, in which Trump references reports that Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley feared he was fabricating a conflict with Iran after losing the 2020 presidential election.

“With Milley, let me see that, I’ll show you an example,” Trump says in the recording, which includes the sound of shuffling papers. “He said that I wanted to attack Iran. Isn’t it amazing? I have a big stack of papers; this thing just came up. Look, this was him, they introduced me to this. This is off the record, but I was introduced to this. This was him. This was the Department of Defense and him.”

“This totally wins my case, you know?” says Trump. “Except it’s, like, highly confidential, secret. This is secret information.”

Trump then says, “Look, as president I could have declassified it, now I can’t.”

Trump has said he had a “standing order” to declassify all documents brought from the Oval Office to the White House residence. He pleaded not guilty in court in June.

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