Donald Trump discussed classified documents on tape, says CNN

In recording, former president appears to indicate he was holding document about military action against Iran

A spokesman for Donald Trump said the tape shows the former president 'did nothing wrong at all' AP

CNN says it has obtained a recording of former US president Donald Trump discussing the contents of classified documents.

The audio recording, which the network says was recorded at a meeting in New Jersey in 2021, was broadcast on the Anderson Cooper 360 programme.

In the recording, Mr Trump – a favourite for the Republican Party's 2024 presidential nomination – seems to indicate he is holding a document regarding possible military action against Iran, according to the report.

Prosecutors said in June that the former president had been recorded during the meeting at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, in July 2021, when he talked about a military “plan of attack” document that was “highly confidential” and “secret”.

The government accused him of showing it to other people in attendance who did not have the required security clearance to see it.

“The audio tape provides context proving, once again, that President Trump did nothing wrong at all,” said Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Mr Trump.

“The media and the Trump-haters once again were all too willing to take the bait, falling for another Democrat-DoJ [Department of Justice] hoax, hook, line and sinker.”

A former aide to Donald Trump was due to appear before a court on Tuesday on charges that he helped the former president hide classified documents that the Justice Department wanted back.

Walt Nauta was charged earlier this month alongside Mr Trump in a 38-count indictment filed by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith.

Mr Nauta is accused of conspiring with Mr Trump to conceal records that he had taken with him from the White House to his Florida property, Mar-a-Lago.

Prosecutors allege that Mr Nauta, at Mr Trump's direction, moved boxes of documents bearing classification markings so that they would not be found by a lawyer off Mr Trump who was tasked with searching the home for classified records to be returned to the government.

That, prosecutors said, resulted in a false representation to the Justice Department that a “diligent search” for classified documents had been done and that all documents responsive to a subpoena had been returned.

Mr Nauta is a US Navy veteran who was Mr Trump’s valet at the White House, before joining him as a personal aide at Mar-a-Lago.

He was regularly by Mr Trump's side, even travelling in his motorcade to the Miami courthouse for their appearance earlier this month.

Mr Nauta accompanied Mr Trump afterwards to a stop at the city's famed Cuban restaurant Versailles, where he helped usher supporters eager to take selfies with the former president.