On Monday night, a “bombshell” revelation about Trump’s classified documents case was released amid a news cycle that had turned decisively against Joe Biden.
The network released audio that appeared to reveal Trump discussing classified documents about General Mark Milley’s military plans for Iran.
CNN has exclusively obtained the audio recording of the 2021 meeting in Bedminster, New Jersey, where President Donald Trump talks about having classified documents that he did not declassify https://t.co/5KE0TdVzv3 pic.twitter.com/ 3YgexinSWC
— CNN (@CNN) June 27, 2023
“He said he wanted to attack Iran, isn’t that incredible?” Trump says on the recording, referring to General Milley.
“I have a big pile of papers; this thing just came out. Look at. This was him. I was presented with this, this is not on the record, but I was presented with this. This was him. This was the Department of Defense and he.”
But on Wednesday, CBS’s Catherine Herridge provided more context to the audio that potentially pulls the rug out from prosecutors looking to exploit it at trial.
Multiple sources previously told CBS News that defense attorneys were not sure the memo in question had been recovered and returned to the government. Former senior DOJ official, “…in some ways it might be analogous to trying to prove a case of murder without a body.” https://t.co/YawawFSMIG
— Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) June 28, 2023
“Multiple sources previously told CBS News that defense attorneys were not sure the memo in question had been recovered and returned to the government. The former senior DOJ official, “…in some ways it could be analogous to trying try a murder case without a body,” Herridge reported.
The CBS investigative reporter was referring to a report earlier in the day that the Iran memo was not among the 31 records underlying charges in Trump’s federal indictment.
“The Defense Department memo on Iran, in the public’s heart now audio recording that captured a July 2021 meeting with former President Donald Trump, is not part of the 31 counts of willful withholding of national defense information indicted on special counsel Jack Smith. accusation of the former presidenta source familiar with the matter confirmed to CBS News,” the network previously reported.
“Trump has consistently said he declassified all the records he took from the White House,” Herridge added.
“CBS News has learned that Trump has not been charged with keeping the document he talks about in this tape. Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office declined to answer our questions about the Iran memo or the tape of audio,” Herridge continued.
Conservative commentator and TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk reported that a witness to the Bedminster meeting testified that he did not recall Trump showing the documents.
“So the alleged Iran document from the selectively leaked Trump tape is not part of Jack Smith’s case against Trump, but we now learn that one of the witnesses at the Bedminster meeting testified that he did NOT remember Trump showing documents to the interviewers!” Kirk said. “This is nothing more than election interference and character assassination against Trump by an armed DOJ.”
Earlier this week, the anti-Trump media was running circles around the audio, framing it in such hyperbolic strains that Trump’s audio is “even more damning” than the indictment.
But if the Justice Department can’t produce the document, then the selectively leaked audio would amount to nothing more than election interference and illegally leaked defamation during his criminal trial.
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