2y ago

Exclusive: CNN obtains the tape of Trump's 2021 conversation about classified documents | CNN Politics

www.cnn.com

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.

17 comments

Is it just me or is this tape absolutely damning? It shows the action, the intent, and the state of mind.
- And knowledge that it was illegal.
- @kn33
  Any bets he still doesn't face appropriate consequences?
  
  If you can name a single time the DoJ has went through this much time & expense to let someone go, I would love to hear about it.
  Also, you may want to go check out Jack Smith's resume.
- You wanna know how many times I thought something regarding Trump was damning and he just kept on trucking? All in saying is if I hold my breath any longer I'll suffocate.
Trump’s statements on the audio recording, saying “these are the papers” and referring to something he calls “highly confidential” and seems to be showing others in the room, could undercut the former president’s claims in an interview last week with Fox News’ Bret Baier that he did not have any documents with him.
Trump is only ever honest with people he's trying to impress. He only views those documents as a way to gain clout. We know from experience that he lies to literally everyone else, even if it means being openly inconsistent.
- To be perfectly frank he also lies to people he's trying to impress.
And of course he's making a dumb argument while admitting to having and showing off classified papers he can no longer declassify.
His argument is that the generals were saying Trump wanted a war with Iran, but because they had prepared an assessment of attack options, they must have wanted such a war themselves.
Do we think his staffers were just sucking up to him or are they just as dumb as they sound?
- Do we think his staffers were just sucking up to him or are they just as dumb as they sound?
  Yes.
- Trump surrounds himself with “Yes-People”. You know the kind of people that would never contradict whoever seems to be in charge. Usually yes-people aren’t very smart. They ingratiate themselves to power because they can’t get there on merit.
  That said the people making the book/doing the interview may have been playing along for a killer exclusive.
This is just insane...
Yes the DoD has war plans on how to attack anyone at need... Heck there almost certainly are plans for how to handle an insane UK.
The President can ask for these plans at any time.
That doesn't mean the DoD wants to actually carry out those plans.... but then why did Donald ask for them?
- Honestly? It probably irritated trump that he had a “big, the biggest, red button” and he was never allowed to actually push said button.
  Trump probably was hoping one of those plans involved nuking Iran, just so he could push said button.
- It's very interesting how Mark Milley seemed to have a few plans active in case a deranged Trump somehow got the military entangled in conflicts both internally (jan 6) and externally (potential unhinged war against Iran, per his request for invasion plans)
  But that's actually beside the point here -- what's funny is how he was so insulted by Milley's book claiming he was unhinged and wanted to attack Iran that he basically went completely out of control and started waving said top secret documents to a staffer and the accompanying ghost writer. It's literally like poring oil on an open flame!
Very cool
Not very legal

17 comments