Trump's statement may become evidence of his crime, President | Recording | Sentence
According to the website of Newsweek on June 9th, former US President Trump stated in a recording that he could have decrypted national security documents during his presidency, but he did not do so. Experts suggest that this statement may be evidence of guilt.
According to CNN, on the 9th, the day after Trump was charged with seven counts for handling classified documents, federal prosecutors obtained a cassette tape from which they could hear the former president say he had kept "secret" military information, but he no longer had the power to decrypt it.
According to the recorded text, Trump said, "When I was the president, I could have decrypted it, but now I can't.". CNN reported that this recording was made during a private meeting in 2021, during which Trump admitted to possessing a confidential Pentagon document regarding a potential strike plan against Iran.
The report states that if this claim is true from Trump's private meeting in 2021, it will be of great significance as it can prove that the former president knew that he kept confidential documents at the Sea Lake Estate, which contradicts his repeated claims in the past few months that all documents have been declassified.
According to reports, Trump has repeatedly denied that he kept national security documents after stepping down, but in the summer of 2022, the Federal Bureau of Investigation discovered that he had kept several confidential documents at the former president's estate in Lake State, Florida, after a raid on the estate.
Former US Department of Defense Special Prosecutor Ryan Goodman commented on the recording, saying, "This seems to be very conclusive evidence of the prosecution's guilt."