In the ongoing criminal case against former President Donald Trump, a recent filing has shed light on the substantial evidence being provided to the defense. This bombshell development includes multiple recordings featuring Trump, all of which have been turned over as part of the discovery process.
One particular piece of evidence that has drawn significant attention is an audio recording in which Trump discusses a classified document he had taken from the White House upon leaving office. This tape reveals Trump’s acknowledgement that due to its classification, he is unable to show the document to his visitors. Its explosive nature has contributed to the 37-count indictment against Trump on Espionage Act charges.
However, the recent filing has raised eyebrows and added intrigue to the case. It discloses the initial batch of evidence provided to Trump’s attorneys, explicitly mentioning “interviews” in the plural form. This description aligns with the previously known audio recording, suggesting that additional interviews or recordings exist:
“Production 1 includes a copy of any written or recorded statements made by the defendants. These statements include the following:
- Interviews of Defendant Trump conducted by non-government entities, which were recorded with his consent and obtained by the Special Counsel’s Office during the investigation of this case, including the July 21, 2021 recorded interview Defendant Trump provided to a publisher and writer quoted in part in the Indictment;
- Public statements made by Defendant Trump, including the public statements quoted in the Indictment;
- The May 26, 2022 FBI interview of Defendant Nauta, which is quoted in the Indictment; and
- The June 21, 2022 grand jury testimony of Defendant Nauta.”
The breaking news was highlighted by Kaitlan Collins during CNN Tonight, where she emphasized the significance of this filing. Collins and anchor Abby Phillip dissected the revelation and pondered the implications of the multiple recordings.
COLLINS: But what is interesting here and what we were noticing, our team, as we were looking at this, is they used the word plural when talking about interviews in recordings that they have of Trump, which they said they were made it his consent. Of course, we know one of those was when he was speaking with people who were ghost writing that book for Mark Meadows, and that is where he was talking about seemingly having a classified document in front of him.
We don’t yet know what these other recordings are. We don’t know what is on them. We don’t know how relevant they are. It does say that they are made with Trump’s consent. They could potentially even be public comments that he’s made about the classifying, the declassification process, what he knows there. That has obviously been a focus this week. And so it still remains to be seen what those are. But it is significant that now discovery has started in this documents case.
PHILLIP: Yes. That definitely jumps off the page here. Multiple recordings, and we don’t know what they say, but the one that we do know about was a fairly significant piece of evidence in that indictment. We have much more to learn on this.
