Trumpland

Trump Showed Off Secret ‘Plan of Attack’ at His Golf Club: Indictment

‘STILL A SECRET’

“As president I could have declassified it,” Trump told the people at the meeting, according to the indictment. “Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”

Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump reacts after arriving at Aberdeen International Airport in Aberdeen, Scotland, Britain May 1, 2023.
Russell Cheyne/Reuters

Donald Trump’s 44-page bombshell indictment, unsealed on Friday, seems to confirm multiple reports from CNN about an audio tape in which he admitted holding on to a classified Pentagon document. The indictments allege that Trump showed off top-secret materials to others on two occasions, one of which was a meeting with a writer, publisher, and two members of his staff at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. The ex-president apparently described and displayed a “plan of attack” prepared by the Department of Defense to the individuals—none of whom had security clearance—boasting it was “highly confidential” and “secret.” “As president I could have declassified it,” Trump said, according to the indictment. “Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.” Sources told CNN last week that the document detailed a potential attack on Iran, though the indictment did not specify this detail. Trump has previously claimed he declassified the documents, sometimes just “by thinking about it.” He now faces charges for seven federal crimes, including a violation of the Espionage Act, and up to 20 years in prison.