- Trump said he's not afraid of any additional potentially damaging recordings becoming public.
- The former president's comments come after the release of audio tape that may undermine his legal defense.
Former President Donald Trump boasted on Tuesday that he's unconcerned about potentially more damaging tapes coming to light after the leak of a recording that undermines his defense for having classified documents in his possession.
"I don't know of any recordings that we should be concerned with because I don't do things wrong. I do things right," Trump told Fox News. "I'm a legitimate person."
On Monday night, CNN aired an audio tape in which Trump seemed to clearly identify that he kept classified papers after leaving office. The episode is one of the central pieces of evidence in special counsel Jack Smith's indictment of the former president on 37 counts related to his alleged obstruction and improper storage of classified information.
"These are the papers," Trump can be heard saying on the recording.
CNN has tape with Donald Trump seemingly showing off classified documents. "This is secret information"pic.twitter.com/DH8AirCoKH
— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) June 27, 2023
Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges. He has argued that an unrelated law, The Presidential Records Act, allows him to essentially retain any information he wants. (It does not.)
Later during the conversation, Trump discusses Joint Chief of Staffs Chairman Mark Milley. The former president is discussing reports that Milley tried to convince Trump not to attack Iran during his final days in office.
"He said that I wanted to attack Iran, Isn't it amazing?" Trump said. "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."
The former president then adds, "This was done by the military and given to me."
Trump, in perhaps the most incriminating moment, then admits he probably shouldn't have the document he's discussing.
"See as president I could have declassified it," Trump says. "Now I can't, you know, but this is still a secret."
An unnamed staffer still chimes in, "Now we have a problem."
It's been reported that Trump was being interviewed for his former chief of staff Mark Meadows' memoir. Meadows has a part of his book that describes an invasion plan for Iran, The Washington Post reported.
Beyond Monday's tape, it's hard to believe Trump would be unafraid of any tapes coming out. His first campaign, presidency, and now post-presidency have all turned on major moments when recordings, both audio and sometimes video, of him have been made public.
A non-comprehensive list includes: his "Access Hollywood" comments about grabbing women "by the pussy" released in the closing weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign; telling Bob Woodward that he downplayed the pandemic; and pressuring Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find" enough votes to overturn his 2020 loss in the state.
"My voice was fine. What did I say wrong on those recordings? I didn't even see the recording. All I know is I did nothing wrong," Trump told Fox News on Tuesday.