Document in Leaked File Not Part of Trump's Classified Materials Indictment: Report

Document in Leaked File Not Part of Trump's Classified Materials Indictment: Report


A document that former President Donald Trump allegedly refers to in a leaked audio file is not included in the classified materials indictment against him, according to a report on Wednesday.

According to an anonymous source cited by CBS News, the Defense Department memo on Iran was not among the documents that President Trump is accused of deliberately retaining under the 31 counts listed in special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment under the Espionage Act of 1917.

The indictment against Trump consists of 37 counts, out of which 31 counts pertain to the willful retention of national defense information. However, the source clarified that the specific subject matter referenced in the leaked audio by Trump, namely the Iran memo, is not included in the allegations of unlawful willful retention outlined in Smith’s indictment.

“This is why I always caution to wait, just little while, before rushing to judgment on matters reported by the media or announced by the government,” constitutional expert and conservative talker Mark Levin tweeted following the CBS News report.

“We now have a situation in which they media have been using CNN’s receipt of an audio allegedly of Trump discussing Iran, which is mentioned in the charging document against Trump, but apparently is not actually charged against Trump — or something like that. This is at a minimum very curious,” he added.

In fact, according to the news outlet’s sources, the document may not ever have been received by the government.

In the indictment prepared by Smith, references were made to the content of the leaked audio tapes, which described allegations of Trump allegedly sharing national defense information with an individual lacking the necessary security clearance.

“It is like highly confidential, secret,” Trump says in the leaked audio tape, according to copy posted online. “This is secret information. Look, look at this.

“See, as president, I could have declassified, but now I can’t, you know. Isn’t that interesting?” he added.

Trump and his supporters have said the audio is actually exonerating.

“What did I say wrong in those recordings?” Trump said in Concord, New Hampshire, on Tuesday. “I didn’t even see the recording. All I know is I did nothing wrong. We had a lot of papers, a lot of papers stacked up. In fact, you could hear the rustle of the paper. And nobody said I did anything wrong.

“Other than the fake news, which, of course, is Fox, too.”


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