Donald Trump dismisses leaked audio of him talking classified war plans as ‘another hoax’

Former President Donald Trump dismissed leaked audio of him discussing classified strategies for a potential attack on Iran after leaving office as “another hoax” as he campaigned in New Hampshire Tuesday.

“I would say election interference more than anything else. It’s a disgrace that they can do it,” the 77-year-old told Fox News Digital. “Everything was fine. We did nothing wrong and everybody knows it.”

CNN published the recording Monday evening. Quotes from it had been circulating for weeks and it served as a key piece of evidence in the 37-count federal indictment Trump is facing for alleged hoarding of classified material.

In the tape, which was recorded in July 2021, Trump was reflecting on his presidency to individuals working on his former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’s memoir.

The former president suggested to his listeners that the plans came from Gen. Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. At the time, Trump was peeved about a New Yorker article in which Milley claimed he fought to prevent the 45th president from attacking Iran during his final weeks in the White House, according to the cable network.

“Isn’t it amazing?” Trump was heard saying in the snippet as papers rustled in the background. “I have a big pile of papers, this thing just came up. Look. This was him. They presented me this – this is off the record but – they presented me this. This was him. This was the Defense Department and him.” 

“See, as president I could have declassified it,” Trump added, seemingly undermining his claim last year that he had already declassified material he took upon leaving the White House. “Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.” 

Two of the people Trump speaks to in the audio are believed to be Kate Hartson and Louise Burke, who had started All Season Press, a conservative publishing company, that same year.

All Seasons Press published Meadows’s book, “The Chief’s Chief,” in which he recounted his Trump administration days. Meadows’s memoir reportedly helped give federal investigators fodder against Trump in the classified document probe.

Hartson, Burke and Meadows did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump also stood by his earlier insistence Tuesday that “there was no document” and “there was nothing to declassify, these were newspaper stories, magazine stories and articles.”

“I said it very clearly – I had a whole desk full of lots of papers, mostly newspaper articles, copies of magazines, copies of different plans, copies of stories, having to do with many, many subjects, and what was said was absolutely fine,” Trump told Fox News Digital.

Trump seemed unsure about whether there would be additional recordings that could manifest, but indicated he wasn’t concerned “because I don’t do things wrong; I do things right.”

The former president sounded off on the leaked audio ahead of his address to the New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women’s annual fundraising gala in Concord.

Federal authorities have seized hundreds of pages of classified documents from Trump’s presidential days, including ones marked “Top Secret.”

Nestled in the 37-count indictment lodged against Trump by Smith’s team is an obstruction charge alleging the former president worked to undermine the investigation.

Trump pleaded not guilty to the indictment earlier this month, marking the first time a sitting or former president was slapped with federal charges.

He is currently the frontrunner in the Republican primary for president.