Breaking: (Classified Document) Paper Rustling, Trump Keep Document about Iran in Mar-a-Lago
Federal prosecutors obtained an audio recording of a summer 2021 meeting with Trump acknowledging he held onto a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran, CNN first reporting. The recording captures sound of paper rustling. Separate investigation (May 24th, 2023) by The Intercept (Ken Klippenstein & co.), leaked report shows that “CIA doesn't know" if ISRAEL plans to bomb IRAN. But still unclear this leaked report (investigating May 24th, 2023) related with new investigation about Trump - classified document on Iran.
May 31st, 2023, nearly same minutes with Exclusive CNN reporting Trump - Iran, The Iranian Government has announced that it will look to strengthen the Syrian regime's air defence systems amid Israeli strikess on both Assad regime forces and Iranian-backed militias, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard-run Fars News Agency has reported.
Iranian Brigadier General Hamza Qalandari said that that the while “the Syrian government” already has strong “missile defence and air defence capabilities”, Iran sees that the “volume of threats against this country is now much wider than in the past”.
Israel has been able to attack regime and Iranian targets in Syria with ease, which has prompted Tehran to install its own advanced, long-range air-defence missile systems in the war-torn country. Former Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi himself, physically, brokered Iran - Saudi peace since Oct 2022. After Saudi - IRan peace deal, entire Middle East countries exclude Israel agree to peace each other, including Iran - Syria.
Not "lack of political intel". This is too ambitious - arrogance the West because "overclaimed" MBS - Biden resolve quickly when Biden visit July 2021.
A leaked intelligence report from February 2023 says, “Netanyahu probably calculates Israel will need to strike Iran to deter its nuclear program.”
The recording indicates Trump understood he retained classified material after leaving the White House, according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation. On the recording, Trump’s comments suggest he would like to share the information but he’s aware of limitations on his ability post-presidency to declassify records, two of the sources said.
CNN has not listened to the recording, but multiple sources described it. One source said the relevant portion on the Iran document is about two minutes long, and another source said the discussion is a small part of a much longer meeting.
Special counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the Justice Department investigation into Trump, has focused on the meeting as part of the criminal investigation into Trump’s handling of national security secrets. Sources describe the recording as an “important” piece of evidence in a possible case against Trump, who has repeatedly asserted he could retain presidential records and “automatically” declassify documents.
Prosecutors have asked witnesses about the recording and the document before a federal grand jury. The episode has generated enough interest for investigators to have questioned Gen. Mark Milley, one of the highest-ranking Trump-era national security officials, about the incident.
The July 2021 meeting was held at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, with two people working on the autobiography of Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows as well as aides employed by the former president, including communications specialist Margo Martin. The attendees, sources said, did not have security clearances that would allow them access to classified information. Meadows didn’t attend the meeting, sources said.
Meadows’ autobiography includes an account of what appears to be the same meeting, during which Trump “recalls a four-page report typed up by (Trump’s former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) Mark Milley himself. It contained the general’s own plan to attack Iran, deploying massive numbers of troops, something he urged President Trump to do more than once during his presidency.”
The document Trump references was not produced by Milley, CNN was told.
Investigators have questioned Milley about the episode in recent months, making him one of the highest-ranking national security officials from Trump’s administration to meet with the special counsel’s team. Milley’s spokesman Dave Butler declined to comment to CNN.
The revelation that the former president and commander-in-chief has been captured on tape discussing a classified document could raise his legal exposure as he continues his third bid for the White House.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing. CNN has reached out to a lawyer and spokesman for the former president.
When asked at a CNN town hall this month if he showed classified documents he kept after the presidency to anyone, Trump answered: “Not really. I would have the right to. By the way, they were declassified after.”
A lawyer for Meadows declined to comment. A lawyer for Martin declined to comment.
Smith’s investigation has shown signs of nearing its end, though it hasn’t yet resulted in any criminal charges. A spokesman for the special counsel’s office declined to comment for this story.
The recording that’s now in the hands of prosecutors shows they are not only looking at Trump’s actions regarding classified documents recovered from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, but also at what happened at Bedminster a year earlier.
The meeting in which Trump discussed the Iran document with others happened shortly after The New Yorker published a story by Susan Glasser detailing how, in the final days of Trump’s presidency, Milley instructed the Joint Chiefs to ensure Trump issued no illegal orders and that he be informed if there was any concern. The story infuriated Trump.
Glasser reported that in the months following the election, Milley repeatedly argued against striking Iran and was concerned Trump “might set in motion a full-scale conflict that was not justified.” Milley and others talked Trump out of taking such a drastic action, according to the New Yorker story.
On the recording and in response to the story, Trump brings up the document, which he says came from Milley. Trump told those in the room that if he could show it to people, it would undermine what Milley was saying, the sources said. One source says Trump refers to the document as if it is in front of him.
Several sources say the recording captures the sound of paper rustling, as if Trump was waving the document around, though is not clear if it was the actual Iran document. There’s also laughter in the room that’s captured on the recording. During the summer of 2021, sources say multiple people were making recordings of Trump as he held conversations with journalists and biographers.
Trump and his attorneys have given several different, often conflicting, explanations for why Trump didn’t intentionally retain classified materials in violation of federal law.
Initially, Trump allies argued he had a “standing declassification order” so that documents removed from the Oval Office were immediately declassified. A few weeks later, Trump told Fox News that he could declassify things “just by thinking about it.”
Earlier this year, Trump’s legal team told Congress that classified material was inadvertently packed up at the end of the administration. Most recently, Trump told CNN at a town hall that materials were “automatically declassified” when he took them.
However, there’s no indication Trump followed the legally mandated declassification process, and his attorneys have avoided saying so far in court whether Trump declassified records he kept.
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