Former President Donald Trump denied that he was holding any classified documents in his hands during a leaked audio recording despite being heard referring to classified material.
The former president insisted on Tuesday that his actions in the recording were only “bravado” and that he was not showing classified documents to an aide or people who were writing a biography on former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
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“I would say it was bravado, if you want to know the truth. It was bravado,” Trump told Semafor. “I was talking and just holding up papers and talking about them, but I had no documents. I didn’t have any documents.”
Trump did not specify what the papers he was holding were but stated that he had papers from “25 different things.” In the recording, Trump could be heard discussing a Department of Defense plan for an attack on Iran.
When asked about his use of the word “plans” in the recording, Trump claimed he was referring to “business plans” or plans for a new golf course.
“Did I use the word plans?” Trump 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.”
The audio recording, which took place in New Jersey in 2021, was released by CNN on Monday.
The recording is expected to be a key part of special counsel Jack Smith’s case against the former president on classified documents Trump allegedly stored at his Mar-a-Lago resort after leaving the Oval Office. FBI agents that raided the resort last August allegedly obtained hundreds of classified documents from Trump’s Florida residence.
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Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 federal charges in Miami earlier this month, 31 related to the “willful retention of national defense information,” a violation of the Espionage Act.
The trial is expected to take place at a Miami federal court in December alongside former aide Walt Nauta, who is a co-defendant in the case.
