Former President Donald Trump has made a stunning admission regarding a recording in which he discussed classified information, stating that he was lying at the time. Trump’s statement came in response to an already infamous conversation captured on tape, where he can be heard saying, “This is secret information” as papers are handled in the background. According to the recording, Trump told a writer working on a memoir by Mark Meadows, his former chief of staff, that the papers were given to him by the military and referred to a potential battle plan for Iran. Despite no longer being in office, Trump claimed he couldn’t declassify the information but emphasized that it was still classified. Trump has previously asserted that he declassified all classified materials in his possession after leaving the presidency. He also argued that he had the right to retain the documents under the Presidential Records Act. However, legal experts from diverse backgrounds have criticized this defense. In an attempt to explain the audio recording, Trump now claims that he was lying. “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 claimed that 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.” When questioned about his use of the term “plans” in a recent Fox News interview, Trump asserted that he was actually referring to “building plans” and plans related to golf courses that were present on his desk. “Did I use the word plans?” he said. “What I’m referring to is magazines, newspapers, plans of buildings. I had plans of buildings. You know, building plans? I had plans of a golf course.” When asked if the recording might influence him to consider a plea agreement, Trump appeared visibly irritated. He responded, “Frankly, that you even ask a question like that’s a disgrace. So let’s end it.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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