Recording emerges of Donald Trump saying he is holding classified documents after leaving office

[tgw]

7 minutes ago, HappyExpat57 said:

No. Too many pieces are NOT in the public domain, and he has admitted multiple times he was aware he took them, that they were STILL CLASSIFIED, and that he did NOT have the authority to declassify them. In the words of Bill Barr (his former butt buddy) "He's toast."

it's more complicated than that.

ex-presidents still have clearance for many classified documents, they also get an intelligence briefing every day if they wish.

the details will decide this case, not sweeping statements.

[HappyExpat57]

1 minute ago, tgw said:

it's more complicated than that.

ex-presidents still have clearance for many classified documents, they also get an intelligence briefing every day if they wish.

the details will decide this case, not sweeping statements.

Again, no. This buffoon has been denied any further intelligence briefings because it is widely known he can't be trusted.

 

"Biden Bars Trump From Receiving Intelligence Briefings, Citing 'Erratic Behavior' President Biden said there was “no need” for former President Donald J. Trump to get the briefings, traditionally given to ex-presidents as a courtesy and to keep them informed if their advice is needed."

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/05/us/politics/biden-trump-intelligence-briefings.html#:~:text=The Indictment%2C Annotated-,Biden Bars Trump From Receiving Intelligence Briefings%2C Citing 'Erratic Behavior,if their advice is needed.

 

Hell, his own White House staff kept sensitive info from him for that same reason, plus they knew he was too busy playing golf to read any of them.

[bamnutsak]

Now he says he was holding "building plans", and exhibiting "bravado". Huh?

 

Former President Donald Trump is now claiming that his boasts about holding highly classified national defense information while talking to patrons at his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey were just "bravado" — and all he really had in his hand were "building plans," according to Semafor.

 

"'I would say it was bravado, if you want to know the truth, it was bravado,' Trump said in an interview aboard his plane with Semafor and ABC News. 'I was talking and just holding up papers and talking about them, but I had no documents. I didn’t have any documents,'" reported Shelby Talcott. 

 

https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-building-plans/

 

[FritsSikkink]

51 minutes ago, Purdey said:

The U.S. is not at war with any country at present.

Yes, they are.

[eisfeld]

It's interesting how much of a story the audio recording leak manages to be. The transcript was published already word for word in the indictment. Shows you that nearly no-one read it. Kinda like Trump himself was known for not wanting to read documents and just be presented with pictures or videos.

[HappyExpat57]

26 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Yes, they are.

Technically, the US has not declared war since before Vietnam. Congress discovered if they call them "conflicts" then they don't have to pay injured warriors as much for loss of life or limb.

[Purdey]

27 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Yes, they are.

Who with? When did that war get declared by Congress?

[ballpoint]

11 minutes ago, HappyExpat57 said:

Technically, the US has not declared war since before Vietnam. Congress discovered if they call them "conflicts" then they don't have to pay injured warriors as much for loss of life or limb.

Technically, yes, but America is currently not at war with Russia in Ukraine in the same way that the USSR was not at war with America in Vietnam.

[bamnutsak]

13 minutes ago, eisfeld said:

It's interesting how much of a story the audio recording leak manages to be.

Hearing him in own voice is much more compelling than reading a transcript. You can be sure the government will want to play the audio recording during a trial, assuming it is admitted as evidence. And all the people present, save trump, have been deposed.

 

Of course we heard his own voice on the Access Hollywood tape and that didn't really seem to swing things much.

 

Today's "bravado" is yesterday's "locker-room talk".

 

 

[HappyExpat57]

1 hour ago, bamnutsak said:

Hearing him in own voice is much more compelling than reading a transcript. You can be sure the government will want to play the audio recording during a trial, assuming it is admitted as evidence. And all the people present, save trump, have been deposed.

 

Of course we heard his own voice on the Access Hollywood tape and that didn't really seem to swing things much.

 

Today's "bravado" is yesterday's "locker-room talk".

 

 

And the BEST part is you cannot cross examine a recording. It is what it is, and that nasal whine is too recognizable to possibly say it wasn't him.

[placeholder]

2 hours ago, tgw said:

it's more complicated than that.

ex-presidents still have clearance for many classified documents, they also get an intelligence briefing every day if they wish.

the details will decide this case, not sweeping statements.

Not necessarily:

Biden Bars Trump From Receiving Intelligence Briefings, Citing ‘Erratic Behavior’

President Biden said there was “no need” for former President Donald J. Trump to get the briefings, traditionally given to ex-presidents as a courtesy and to keep them informed if their advice is needed.

https://archive.ph/Z7KGY

This was reported on Feb 5, 2021. 2 weeks after Biden was inaugurated.

[tgw]

43 minutes ago, placeholder said:

Not necessarily:

Biden Bars Trump From Receiving Intelligence Briefings, Citing ‘Erratic Behavior’

President Biden said there was “no need” for former President Donald J. Trump to get the briefings, traditionally given to ex-presidents as a courtesy and to keep them informed if their advice is needed.

https://archive.ph/Z7KGY

This was reported on Feb 5, 2021. 2 weeks after Biden was inaugurated.

the briefings are one thing, but were Trump's clearances pulled too ?

[HappyExpat57]

25 minutes ago, tgw said:

the briefings are one thing, but were Trump's clearances pulled too ?

Turns out NO president has a clearance. Damned fuzzy logic.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/25/trump-classified-legal/

[placeholder]

24 minutes ago, tgw said:

the briefings are one thing, but were Trump's clearances pulled too ?

Biden withdrew the briefings because of Trump's erratic behavior. I don't think there is automatic access to classified documents for ex-Presidents, but if there were, do you think the Biden administration was going to entrust that information to someone displaying erratic behavior?

[eisfeld]

I don't think it matters if Trump still has or had clearance after he left office. He can't take (and hide) these documents away from the government. He can't store them in something that is not authorized as a secure location. And he can't show classified information to random people without any clearance whatsoever.

[Paradise Pete]

On 6/27/2023 at 6:46 AM, HappyExpat57 said:

I've listened to this recording several times. The complete lackadaisical attitude of ALL involved is staggering.

It's like a scene from a Marx Brothers movie.

 

Come to think of it, there was this exchange in A Night at the Opera:

Groucho: "Get outta here before I get arrested."
Chico: "Nah I'd like to stay and see that."

[Tug]

5 hours ago, bamnutsak said:

Now he says he was holding "building plans", and exhibiting "bravado". Huh?

 

Former President Donald Trump is now claiming that his boasts about holding highly classified national defense information while talking to patrons at his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey were just "bravado" — and all he really had in his hand were "building plans," according to Semafor.

 

"'I would say it was bravado, if you want to know the truth, it was bravado,' Trump said in an interview aboard his plane with Semafor and ABC News. 'I was talking and just holding up papers and talking about them, but I had no documents. I didn’t have any documents,'" reported Shelby Talcott. 

 

https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-building-plans/

 

Wonder what he’s going to say when the staffers and the person writing the meadows book are going to say on the stand?i imagine they have been interviewed already not looking good for old Donnie me thinks 

[bendejo]

21 hours ago, Bkk Brian said:

Fox News (LOL) are suggesting Trump leaked the audio himself............

 

Fox News host suggests Trump may have leaked audio in classified documents case

Fox News host Steve Doocy suggested former President Trump may have been behind the leak of an audio recording showing Trump talking about his handling of classified documents.

“You know what? If Trump thinks it’s an exoneration of him, perhaps somebody on his side actually did the leaking to CNN and Maggie Haberman,” Doocy said Tuesday morning. 

“That makes sense,” co-host Brian Kilmeade chimed in. 

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/4069757-fox-news-host-suggests-trump-may-have-leaked-audio-in-classified-documents-case/

Quoting from The Hill article transcript:

“He said that I wanted to attack Iran, isn’t it amazing?” Trump says on the recording, referring to Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley.

“I have a big pile of papers; this thing just came up. Look. This was him. They presented me this — this is off-the-record, but they presented me this. This was him. This was the Defense Department and him.”

 

Throw in a few more of: Isn't it amazing?  Can you believe that?  This was him.

Can I believe that?  Obvious set-up.  Just randomly reach into a pile of papers and that particular one comes out.  Yeah sure, just like it was Antifa that stormed the Capitol on 1/6.

Aw, it was all just bravado anyway. 

Trump is testing out a surprising new defense strategy: admitting he's a liar

 

 

[Social Media]

Off topic post removed.

[Cory1848]

On 6/28/2023 at 4:35 AM, bendejo said:

So he was thinking he could disparage Milley by accusing him of wanting to attack Iran.  I guess he had been too busy running his scams for the 10+ years before he officially entered politics to know that there has long been sentiment in the right-wing side of US politics to do just that.  This news getting out may actually be a negative for the orange guy with the neocons and other gung-ho Americans.

But listen to his delivery on the recording: can you count how many times he says "this was him" ?   Slimey sales techniques, like DeSantis giving a speech and managing to say "woke" 12 times within 20 seconds.

“Isn’t that interesting.”  That's not the way he talks, it's part of a prepared performance.

 

And more, it doesn’t even matter if Milley and people at DOD have a hankering to attack Iran; contingency plans for such an attack have existed at least since the days of Mosaddegh, regardless of whether neocons or isolationists are running the show at any given time. As well as similar attack plans for dozens of other places (Canada maybe?). Because you never know when you may need to take action because of some sudden emergency.

 

Trump seems to be saying that, because Milley drew up these plans (?) ("This was him!"), rather than (Trump himself drawing up the plans?), that exonerates Trump of the desire to attack Iran. None of this is of any pertinence whatsoever; the plans were there well before either of these men came to power, and the whole exchange shows yet again how utterly clueless Trump is about how US security (or anything else) actually works.

[Tug]

Looks like Rudy Giuliani is negotiating a deal with the DOJ it’s all over msn that doesn’t bode well for Donnie 

[Skeptic7]

The big bronzed braggart buffoon is swirling down the ???? as all pieces of ???? should. The sooner this stain on America (and the world) is wiped out, the better. 

[herfiehandbag]

On 6/27/2023 at 6:26 PM, placeholder said:

From listening to the audio, it seems he showed the document to the woman who was interviewing him. So, it seems likely that would undercut his case that it was newspaper clippings. Especially given how he described the report as running to pages and pages.

Oh how ironic, showing off to a woman (in his universe "pussy grabbing") could well be his downfall!

[placeholder]

Trump has had 2 prominent legal experts as defenders through most of his legal travails: Jonathan Turley and Alan Dershowitz. Not so long ago Turley concluded that even though, in his opinion, most of the legal cases against Trump were weak,  Trump was in serious legal jeopardy in the Mar-a-Lago case. But Dershowitz held on and continued to denigrate even the Mar-a-Lago case. Now, that has changed:

 

Trump Needs to Stop Talking About This Topic, According to Alan Dershowitz

"Dershowitz pondered how Trump's lawyers could mount "any possible defense" against the evidence, saying that it was "likely" that the Department of Justice "will be able to prove at trial" that the former president was discussing "material that he believed was still classified."

"Mr. Trump has claimed in an interview that what he showed the writer and publisher were not classified documents but rather newspaper and magazine reports on the issue," wrote Dershowitz. "Listening to the recording, however, suggests that Mr. Trump showed them a document that he said was secret and that he could have declassified, but did not, while he was president."

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-needs-stop-talking-about-this-topic-according-alan-dershowitz-1809743