Trump Reverses Course, Now Claims He Was Lying About Iran Battle Plans On Infamous Recording: ‘It Was Bravado’
Donald Trump/Truth Social
Former President Donald Trump said he was lying when he said on a recording, “This is secret information” as the sound of papers being handled is heard, according to Semafor and ABC News.
“These are the papers. This was done by the military and given to me,” Trump said to a writer, supposedly referring to a potential battle plan for Iran. “See, as president I could have declassified it. Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”
The writer was working on a memoir by Mark Meadows, Trump’s last chief of staff as president. At least two of Trump’s aides were present as well.
The audio was obtained and aired by CNN on Monday night.
Trump faces 37 federal counts over what the Department of Justice says was the willful retention of classified documents and his efforts to obstruct their retrieval by the government. He pleaded not guilty to all counts.
The audio is consistent with a conversation at Trump’s Bedminster golf resort that is described in the indictment.
Trump has long maintained that he declassified all classified material found in his possession after his presidency. He additionally claimed that he had the right to keep the documents under the Presidential Records Act. Legal experts from across the ideological spectrum have panned that defense.
On Monday, Trump claimed the audio was “actually an exoneration” and did not deny that the content of the documents was related to the military and Iran.
But on Tuesday, he tried a new strategy by claiming that he was lying on the recording.
“I would say it was bravado, if you want to know the truth, it was bravado,” Trump told Semafor and ABC News on board his plane on Tuesday. “I was talking and just holding up papers and talking about them, but I had no documents. I didn’t have any documents.”
Trump stated he was simply holding up random papers.
“I just held up a whole pile of — my desk is loaded up with papers. I have papers from 25 different things,” he said. A reporter asked the former president if he regretted how he handled classified documents upon leaving the White House.
“No, I have no regrets,” he said. “I didn’t have a classified document. There was no classified document on my desk.”
When asked if the recording might make him inclined to consider a plea agreement, Trump appeared to become irritated.
“Frankly, that you even ask a question like that’s a disgrace,” Trump replied. “So let’s end it.”
Whether he was lying now or lying then may very well be decided by a jury in federal court.
