Trump was heard on recording discussing ‘highly classified, secret’ documents

Donald Trump appears to confirm in an audio clip that he kept a secret document after leaving the White House, according to US media. On the footage, we can see the former president looking through some documents and remarking, “This is highly confidential.”

The clip is also available on CBS, the BBC’s US partner, but CNN claimed to have first obtained it. Trump has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of improperly handling personal information.

Mr. Trump refers to a document as “highly confidential” and uses the statement “these are the papers” to describe it.

He says, “This was done by the military and given to me.” “See, as president, I could have declassified that. Now that I can’t, you know, this is still a secret. It appears to be the same audio recording that was used by federal prosecutors to back up Mr. Trump’s indictment.

In a recent interview with Fox News, the former president denied allegations that he gave meeting participants access to confidential information that they weren’t authorised to see.

The document wasn’t there. Mr. Trump claimed that there were a tonne of publications and other materials discussing Iran and other subjects, and he added that he was offering “newspaper stories, magazine stories, and articles.”

However, the recording seems to indicate that Mr. Trump was referring to specific files. Along with him, a staff worker named Walt Nauta was accused of a felony; at a hearing on Tuesday, he is expected to plead not guilty.

The trial for the former president is scheduled to start on August 14, but that date could be changed. The court has not yet decided on the prosecution’s motion to adjourn it until December 11.