Recording emerges of Donald Trump saying he is holding classified documents after leaving office

Published

2 years ago

June 27, 2023

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A recording of Donald Trump saying he is holding secret documents he didn’t declassify while he was president has emerged.

The tape was made at the former US president’s Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club in July 2021 and seems to indicate he knew of the proper declassification procedures but did not follow them.

First obtained by CNN, the recording offers new insight into a conversation that is cited in special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment against Mr Trump over the mishandling of classified documents.

The two-minute recording suggests the Republican nominee frontrunner was holding classified information about the Pentagon’s plans to attack Iran.

The recording begins with Mr Trump saying, “these are bad sick people,” while a staffer pointed out General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“Like when Milley is talking about, ‘Oh you’re going to try to do a coup’. No, they were trying to do that before you even were sworn in,” the staffer said on the recording.

Most of Mr Trump’s response was largely included in the indictment, but the audio also included the former president and his aides joking about Hillary Clinton’s emails.

According to the indictment, the conversation included the writer, a publisher and two members of Trump’s staff.

Mr Trump can be heard saying: “He said that I wanted to attack Iran, Isn’t it amazing? 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.”

As the remarks were made, the sound of papers rustling could be heard in the background.

After he pointed out the document was “highly confidential” and had “secret information,” one of his aides said, “Hillary would print that out all the time, you know. Her private emails”.

Mr Trump then quipped, “no, she’d send it to Anthony Weiner. The pervert.” Weiner is a former Democratic member of Congress who was jailed for sexting an underage girl.

“I was just thinking, because we were talking about it. And you know, he said, ‘He wanted to attack Iran’, and what…” Mr Trump could be heard saying before adding, “These are the papers.”

Other lines from the conversation, including Mr Trump saying that the document was still classified, but “as president I could have declassified it” were included in the indictment.

In another section of the recording, he could also be heard saying “it’s incredible” before asking someone to “bring some Cokes in please.”

“It’s so cool. I mean, it’s so, look, her and I, and you probably almost didn’t believe me, but now you believe me,” Trump said.

Mr Trump’s team have yet to comment on the recording.

Mr Trump pleaded not guilty earlier this month to 37 counts related to the alleged mishandling of classified documents kept at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

US

Two dead after multiple people were injured in shooting at church in Kentucky

Published

7 hours ago

July 13, 2025

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Two dead after multiple people were injured in shooting at church in Kentucky

Two people are dead after multiple people were injured in shootings in Kentucky, the state’s governor has said.

Andy Beshear said the suspect had also been killed following the shooting at Richmond Road Baptist Church in Lexington.

A state trooper was earlier shot at Blue Grass Airport in Fayette County on Sunday morning, the Lexington Herald-Leader local newspaper reports.

Mr Beshear has said a state trooper “from the initial stop” and people who were injured in the church shooting are “being treated at a nearby hospital”.

The extent of the injuries is not immediately known.

State troopers and the Lexington Police Department had caught up with the suspect at the church following the shooting in Fayette County, according to Sky News’ US partner network NBC News.

Mr Beshear said: “Please pray for everyone affected by these senseless acts of violence, and let’s give thanks for the swift response by the Lexington Police Department and Kentucky State Police.”

The Blue Grass Airport posted on X at 1pm local time (6pm UK time) that a law enforcement investigation was impacting a portion of an airport road, but that all flights and operations were now proceeding normally.

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US

Donald Trump threatens to revoke Rosie O’Donnell’s US citizenship

Published

19 hours ago

July 13, 2025

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Donald Trump threatens to revoke Rosie O'Donnell's US citizenship

Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.

In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”

He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.

O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.

“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.

“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”

O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.

She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.

O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.

This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.

But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.

Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.

“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.

“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”

US

Farmer becomes first person to die during Trump’s ICE raids

Published

22 hours ago

July 13, 2025

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Farmer becomes first person to die during Trump's ICE raids

A farmer who fell from a greenhouse roof during an anti-immigrant raid at a licensed cannabis facility in California this week has died of his injuries.

Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die as a result of Donald Trump’s Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) raids.

His niece, Yesenia Duran, posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family’s only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico.

The United Food Workers said Mr Alanis had worked on the farm for 10 years.

“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorise American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” the union said in a recent statement on X.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities on Thursday.

Mr Alanis called family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell around 30ft (9m) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.

Agents arrested 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, the DHS said in a statement.

Mr Alanis was not among them, the agency said.

“This man was not in and has not been in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) or ICE custody,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.

“Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30ft. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”

Four US citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers”, the DHS said, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.

In a statement, Glass House, a licensed Cannabis grower, said immigration agents had valid warrants. It said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation.

“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it added.