On Monday night, CNN dropped a bombshell into the midst of the American political conversation.
The network obtained audio that appears to reveal Trump discussing classified documents and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley’s military posture toward Iran.
CNN has exclusively obtained the audio recording of the 2021 meeting in Bedminster, New Jersey, where President Donald Trump discusses holding secret documents he did not declassify https://t.co/5KE0TdVzv3 pic.twitter.com/3YgexinSWC
— CNN (@CNN) June 27, 2023
“He said that I wanted to attack Iran, isn’t it amazing?” Trump says on the recording, referring to General Milley.
“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.”
On Tuesday, Fox & Friends co-hoster Steve Doocy suggested the leaked audio may have come from the Trump campaign.
“You know what? If Trump thinks it’s an exoneration of him, perhaps somebody on his side actually did the leaking to CNN and Maggie Haberman,” Doocy said.
“That makes sense,” co-host Brian Kilmeade agreed.
“It does, actually,” Doocy said. “He’s admitting he’s got classified documents.”
The audio dropped on the same day as video of President Biden’s meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi surfaced showing the president seemingly boasting about selling “state secrets.”
BIDEN (last week): “I sold a lot of state secrets and a lot of very important things…” pic.twitter.com/eyEaQEevRp
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 26, 2023
However, defenders of President Biden pointed out that he added that he was “kidding” amidst a smattering of laughs in the audience.