by Mark Sumner for
Daily Kos
Daily Kos Staff
Friday, June 02, 2023 at 9:58:39a PDT
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Earlier this week,
Hunter reported on the discovery that there was an audio recording of Donald Trump in a 2021 meeting in which he talked about holding on to a national security document containing details of a potential military attack on Iran. That recording made it clear that Trump knew he had retained information classified at the highest level, and that he had not declassified this material before leaving the White House.
This recording, which was reportedly played for the grand jury hearing evidence on the case being investigated by special counsel Jack Smith, seems more than adequate to justify an indictment. However, it turns out to be just the tip of the iceberg.
CNN is reporting that this document was not among those recovered by the FBI when they searched a storage room and Trump’s office at Mar-a-Lago. In fact, Trump’s attorney’s can’t find the document anywhere.
The missing document reportedly contains handwritten pages from Gen. Mark Milley describing one approach to a possible attack on Iran. Earlier reports indicated that Trump also had documents related to Iran’s nuclear program and defenses, but it’s not clear if this is all part of the same document. The same
missing document.
Smith’s team has reportedly notified Trump’s attorneys that they want the document. They want any notes related to the document. They want any other material referencing the document. They want any copies made of the document. But mostly, they need the original document that Trump talked about on the recording.
Since that 2021 meeting took place at Trump’s golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey, that would seem to be one logical place to look for the document. So far, the FBI has not conducted any search at this location, or at hundreds of other properties owned by Trump.
Shortly before the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago, members of Trump’s staff, along with workers at that location, moved some boxes out of the storage facility. It’s not known if those boxes were recovered by the FBI or if they were moved to other locations.
There are reports that Trump has
admitted showing classified information to visitors at Mar-a-Lago. Visitors to that location include representatives of Saudi Arabia, Iran’s biggest adversary in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia also funded a LIV Golf event held at the Bedminster course.
In recent weeks, the special counsel’s office has complained to a federal judge that they couldn’t be sure Trump had returned all the classified information. Now they’re sure he didn’t.
