Trump heard in audio clip describing "highly confidential, secret" documents

Former President Donald Trump can be heard in an audio recording apparently showing and discussing — "off the record," he says — what he describes as "highly confidential, secret" documents with a writer and aides in 2021.

"It is like highly confidential, secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this. You attack and…." Trump can be heard saying, before another person interrupts. The audio was first obtained by CNN, and has also been obtained by CBS News.

The July 2021 recording of a meeting at Trump's golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, was cited by special counsel Jack Smith in the indictment of Trump and an aide, Walt Nauta, on a combined 37 counts related to alleged mishandling of classified documents. Trump entered a not guilty plea to the charges on June 14, and Nauta is expected to plead not guilty at a hearing on Tuesday.

It is not clear from the indictment if the documents referred to in the recording were recovered by investigators. 

In the audio, Trump can be heard saying "these are the papers" and describing them as a plan of attack related to Iran. The clip is roughly two minutes of a conversation that sources told CBS News was approximately two hours long. CBS News and other news outlets had previously reported what Trump is heard saying on the tape. The audio appears to confirm the accuracy of those reports.