A recording of former President Donald Trump discussing General Mark Milley’s eagerness to start a war with Iran has been leaked, suggesting it confirms that President Trump was holding on to “secret information” at his Secret Service-guarded Mar a Lago residence.
The 45th president can be heard referring to “secret information” as the papers are discussed, with a staffer joking that Hillary Clinton would print such information out regularly. “[S]he’d send it to Anthony Weiner, the pervert,” Trump responds, prompting laughter.
The entire clip appears to be jocular in nature – a fact left out by CNN in its previous characterizations of the audio – which could only have been leaked to the network by the U.S. government itself, namely the Justice Department (DOJ) or Obama-linked prosecutor Jack Smith directly. Last week, a judge ordered that while Biden’s weaponized DOJ had leaked against Trump, that Trump was not allowed to leak to the press in return.
In the audio (below), Trump can be heard discussing with staff something referred to in or on one of the documents, stating: “[A]s president I could have declassified it. Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”
But it is still not clear whether Trump is talking about the documents themselves, in the audio, or something the documents may be referring to. As a result, a statement from the former President on Tuesday morning called the audio leak “an exoneration”:
The Deranged Special Prosecutor, Jack Smith, working in conjunction with the DOJ & FBI, illegally leaked and “spun” a tape and transcript of me which is actually an exoneration, rather than what they would have you believe. This continuing Witch Hunt is another ELECTION INTERFERENCE Scam. They are cheaters and thugs!
– Donald J. Trump, TruthSocial, June 26th.
The case is ongoing, as America draws closer to an election, with an unprecedented campaign from the government against one of its political opponents.