US Prosecutors have a tape of Trump discussing a classified Iran file

The United States (US) Justice Department prosecutors have found evidence that former US President Donald Trump discussed a classified Pentagon document related to a potential attack on the Islamic Republic of Iran.

According to reports, Trump was seen talking about a classified Iran file in an obtained audio recording. CNN first reported about the tape. The former US President said that he wanted to share information from the document with other officials. 

The tape recording was from 2021. The comments were made at a golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. He reportedly took the documents with him from the White House to Mar-a-Lago, his Florida house, after leaving office. 

Counsel Jack Smith received the recording. His team investigated the potential mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago to know ifTrump or anyone else wanted to criminally obstruct the probe.

The investigation started in 2022 after the National Archives and Records Administration revealed to the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States, about the classified documents.

In June 2022, the investigators received a search warrant and recovered about 100 more documents marked as classified as related to the Islamic Republic of Iran. 

According to an FBI affidavit, “Highly classified records were unfoldered, intermixed with other records and otherwise improperly identified. Several of the documents also contained what appears to be former US President handwritten notes.”

Smith also investigated Trump and his allies about the results of the 2020 presidential election. This year, New York prosecutors charged Trump over his business records.

According to CNN, Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, questioned witnesses related to this case. A Trump spokesman said that the probe amounted to “continued interference in the presidential election.” 

Trump has been in the limelight in recent months. Recently, a jury in New York found Trump liable for sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996.