WASHINGTON: US Media outlets are airing a leaked conversation of Donald Trump discussing classified military documents that he is accused of mishandling following the end of his presidency. Trump is also accused of sharing sensitive US secrets with people who had no security clearance. In the recorded conversation, Trump can be heard discussing the papers with others, acknowledging that the papers are classified and that he no longer has the authority to declassify them.

Last year the FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and seized classified documents which had been stored in a ballroom, offices, and a bathroom, giving access to anyone who might wander through. CNN obtained a recording of a July 2021 conversation during which Trump acknowledges to a writer, publisher and two of Trump’s staff members he held on to a classified Pentagon document related to a potential attack on Iran.

“See as president I could have declassified it,” Trump says in the recording. “Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”

With Trump’s trial is set to begin in August, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in statement that “the audio tape provides context proving, once again, that President Trump did nothing wrong at all.” He did not expand on why or how that is the case.