Donald Trump got caught up in a bombastic conversation and admitted he had not classified classified military intelligence that he had taken from the White House to Mar-a-Lago and shown to people without security officials.
A transcript of his conversation is published in the indictment against the former president released Friday afternoon by the Justice Department.
Trump was hit with a total of 37 charges for his handling of classified documents, including 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information under the Espionage Act. He will appear before a court in Miami on Tuesday afternoon and has already said he will plead not guilty.
The indictment shows that Trump showed at least five people who did not have proper authorization for highly classified information, citing two separate incidents where this happened.
This image, included in the indictment of former President Donald Trump, shows boxes of records in a storage unit at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, that had overturned with contents spilling onto the floor
In May 2021, at his golf club in Bedminister, NJ, Trump had a conversation with a writer and publisher regarding a then-upcoming book about his former chief of staff Mark Meadows. Two Trump associates were also present.
During the chat, Trump revealed that he had been withholding “secret” military information about Iran.
Prior to the interview, there were media reports that then Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, General Mark Milley, feared Trump would order an attack on Iran and advised against the then president. The indictment calls Milley a senior military official.
The indictment reveals that when greeting the writer, publisher and his two staffers, Trump said, “Look what I found, this was [the Senior Military Official’s] action plan, read it and just show. . . it is interesting.’
Trump was involved in the following exchange, as outlined in the 44-page indictment.
Trump: Well, with [the Senior Military Official]—uh, let me see that, I’ll show you an example. He said I wanted to attack [Country A]. Isn’t it great? Got a big stack of papers, this thing just came up. Look. This was him. They put this to me – this is off the record, but – they put this to me. This was him. This was the Defense Department and him.
Writer: Wow.
Trump: We looked at a few. This was him. This was not done by me, this was him. All sorts of things – pages long, look.
Staff member: Mrs.
Trump: Hold on, let’s see.
colleague: [Laughter] Yes.
Trump: I just found it, isn’t that great? This completely wins my case, you know.
Staffer: Mm-hm.
Trump: Except it is, very confidential.
Staffer: Yes. [Laughter]
Trump: Secret. This is classified information. Look, look at this. You attack, and— * * *
Trump: By the way. Isn’t that incredible?
Staffer: Yes.
Trump: I was just thinking because we were talking about it. And you know, he said, ‘he wanted to attack [Country A], and what . . .’
Staffer: You did.
Trump: This was done by the military and given to me. Uh, I think we probably can, right?
Staffer: I don’t know, we’ll, we’ll have to see. Yes, we’ll have to try to…
Trump: Declassify it.
Staffer: – find one – yes.
Trump: Look, as president I could have declassified it.
Staffer: Yes. [Laughter]
Trump: Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.
Staffer: Yes. [Laughter] Now we have a problem.
Trump: Isn’t that interesting?
The indictment states that neither the writer, publisher, nor Trump’s two staffers had security clearance to view classified material.
Documents were moved from the building’s business center to a bathroom and shower in MAL’s Lake Room, employees told the FBI
Donald Trump claims he is not guilty
The indictment also outlines a second incident in August or September 2021. Trump met in his Bedminister office with a representative of his political action committee, where he spoke of an ongoing military operation in a country whose name had been redacted.
Trump showed the PAC representative a map of that country and told the “representative not to show the map to the PAC representative and not to get too close,” the indictment read.
The transcripts show that Trump understood that some of the documents he took to his Florida home remained secret. He had previously argued that the president can release anything he wants, and has used that as a defense when faced with questions about the sensitive files.
Trump was at his golf club in Bedminister, New Jersey, Thursday night when his lawyers told him he was facing federal charges. He posted the news himself on his Truth Social account.
The indictment was unveiled Friday. It says Trump “caused” dozens of boxes, including those containing classified information, to be transported to his home at Mar-a-Lago, a private club in West Palm Beach.
And it was full of colorful photos showing boxes of records piled up in a Mar-a-Lago bathroom. Another photo shows a box toppling over and documents spilling on the floor, including one containing classified information.
The documents state in dry language that Mar-a-Lago – an “active social club” – “was not an authorized location for the storage, possession, review, display” or discussion of classified documents.
It also outlines the role of Walter Nauta, Trump’s former military valet who left the White House after his presidency to join him at Mar-a-Lago.
The upload document contains black and white images of boxes of documents stored at Mar-a-Lago
The indictment shows that Trump went through several boxes of documents before returning them to the National Archives — and he did so with the help of Nauta.
Between November 2021 and January 2022, Nauta and another associate brought boxes of documents to Trump’s social club residence and sent the former president a photo to confirm they were there, the indictment revealed.
Nauta told the aide that Trump was “working” on the boxes. There were reports that the former president went through the material before sending it to the National Archives.
The indictment includes multiple text messages between Nauta and another associate about moving several boxes to the residence for Trump.
On January 17, 2022, Nauta returned 15 boxes to the archive.
The indictment accuses Nauta of making false statements to detectives where he had denied moving the boxes.
It says that Trump ordered Nauta to move boxes of documents “to hide them from Trump’s attorney, the FBI and the grand jury,” and that Trump suggested to his attorney to “falsely represent” the FBI that Trump had no documents to comply with the subpoena.
That comes after attorneys for special counsel Jack Smith persuaded a judge to compel Trump attorney Evan Corcoran to testify by citing the crime-fraud exception.
He also provided the FBI with “only a few documents,” saying he had produced a certificate falsely claiming that all documents had been submitted.
The indictment names Nauta as a co-conspirator, noting that he served as President of Trump’s Navy and then became his aide when he left the White House.
The grainy black-and-white images, which appear to be from security cameras, depict the long room-to-room journey the documents have taken.
In the aftermath, Trump became a DJ, spinning his favorite songs from Pavarotti to James Brown just 90 minutes after discovering he was facing the landmark federal indictment that could lead him to 100 years in prison.
After making a roaring statement on Truth Social where he declared “I AM AN INNOCENT MAN,” Trump seemed to calm his nerves by dining at his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey, before playing disc jockey all night.
Trump wore a Make America Great Again cap and pretended to be a DJ. New York Times.
It is not the first time that the 76-year-old has issued an attack in the face of criminal charges. After first facing charges in April when he was accused of paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels, Trump threw a bash at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Trump was in Bedminster when news of his new indictment broke. He denies the charges and says he is innocent
The former president’s legal troubles extend beyond the New York indictment and classified documents case.
The special prosecutor has a separate investigation into attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, while the Fulton County District Attorney in Georgia is investigating Trump over alleged attempts to undermine that state’s 2020 election .
Trump will appear in court on Tuesday at 3 p.m. in Miami, where the most recent charges against him will be filed. Security around the courthouse has already been increased before he appears in court.
He has already been charged in New York and faces additional investigations in Washington and Atlanta that could lead to criminal charges.