Is It Bad If Prosecutors Have Tape Of Trump Bragging About Classified Doc He Stole?

Go to prison.

Remember in 2017, just after Donald Trump became president, when he was in the Oval Office with Russian officials, and most likely out of a desperate and sad need for the Russians to think he was a real president, he started cumming all over them with his mouth about the cool codeword-level intelligence he had from our allies the Israelis? God, how horrifying that was.

That came to mind when news broke last night that Special Counsel Jack Smith has Lordy There Are Tapes of Trump at his Bedminster resort in the summer of 2021, bragging about the classified intel he stole about Iran. On top of this just another example of Trump sounding like a compromised motherfucker who doesn't care about the interests of the United States, this could be more evidence that Trump knew exactly what he was doing, knew exactly that he had stolen classified documents, and why he shouldn't have. It seems a lot of the news we're hearing lately goes to evidence Jack Smith is developing of Trump's knowledge of his crimes.

 The Washington Post says the recording is from 2021. About that criminal knowledge:

The audio features Trump describing a multi-page document that he claims is about possibly attacking Iran, expressing a desire to share that information with others but also making some kind of acknowledgment that he shouldn’t do so, the people said.

Oh, is that related to the document he apparently stole regarding some other nation's defense capabilities, including in the nuclear arena? Or is that a different document he stole?

 Oh THAT Stolen Mar-a-Lago Nuke Doc? Trump Did Not Know You Meant THAT Stolen Mar-a-Lago Nuke Doc! 

CNN, which first reported this news, picks up:  

The recording indicates Trump understood he retained classified material after leaving the White House, according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation. On the recording, Trump’s comments suggest he would like to share the information but he’s aware of limitations on his ability post-presidency to declassify records, two of the sources said.

Uh huh yep. Well, as Trump used to babble during his first impeachment, RELEASE TEH TRANSCRIPTS!11!!!1 We'd sure like to hear and/or read it.

CNN's sources say this is an "important" piece of evidence, and WaPo notes that along with Trump's state of mind, this could help show people the route some of these classified docs took when Trump squirreled them out of the White House. (This 2021 meeting was a whole year before Trump was shuffling boxes around Mar-a-Lago last summer, apparently hiding them from the feds.)

Among those present at the 2021 meeting were two people working on former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows's autobiography. CNN says that book appears to describe a similar meeting. (Trump's bragging was one small part of a much longer meeting.)

Trump was reportedly pissed at the time that the New Yorker had a story by Susan Glasser about how at the end of his presidency, former Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley had plans in place for what to do if Trump gave an illegal order. It was specifically about keeping him from starting a war in Iran.

So he was bitching and moaning:

On the recording and in response to the story, Trump brings up the document, which he says came from Milley. Trump told those in the room that if he could show it to people, it would undermine what Milley was saying, the sources said. One source says Trump refers to the document as if it is in front of him.

Several sources say the recording captures the sound of paper rustling, as if Trump was waving the document around, though is not clear if it was the actual Iran document. There’s also laughter in the room that’s captured on the recording.

So he had a classified document, maybe it was right there, and he wanted to show it, but he couldn't show it, because it was classified, which kind of flies in the face of all his previous lies about how he could magically declassify documents by pushing really hard like he's on the potty like HGEEEIIIIIIIIIIINGGGGGGGGGGHHH!11! you see how the documents are declassified now HGEEEIIIIIIIIINGGGGGGHHHHH1!1!!!1!

 TRUMP DECLASSIFYING DOCUMENTS IN HIS BRAIN RIGHT NOW, CAN YOU TELL? IT IS THIS FACE HE MAKES! 

Trump might be clinging in his cow brain to the incorrect belief that anything from his presidency is "my documents," but facts don't care about his fucking feelings. And he sure as hell didn't "automatically" declassify anything, or do it with his brain.

For more on the implications of this, here is a thread from Ryan Goodman, which includes this detail he noticed:

“2. Audio recording is a meeting with several people who don't have security clearances. If Trump discussed content of document it is even worse - and raises its own criminal exposure. These individuals are all likely good witnesses, with disincentive to lie given their number.”

— Ryan Goodman (@Ryan Goodman) 1685564528 

Wonder how many more tapes Jack Smith has.

[ Washington Post / CNN ]

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