Morning Joe panelists wonder who leaked Trump tapes – and ask whether he did it himself

A newly revealed audio recording shows Donald Trump appearing to discuss classified military plans and waving around documents at his Bedminster golf course, and panelists on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" wondered who might have leaked them.

The ex-president refers to the documents as "highly confidential" and seems to show them to others, which contradicts some of his public defenses and appears to bolster the case filed by special counsel Jack Smith, and former White House communication director Jennifer Palmieri speculated about the sourcing.

"This is the second time we have heard audio of him talking about a Mark Milley memo, right?" said Palmieri, who served under Barack Obama. "So imagine, we just happen to have learned about these audio tapes. Imagine how many more the prosecutor could have. This could be the tip of the iceberg."

"It is interesting to think about, why are we hearing these audio tapes?" Palmieri added. "Who is releasing them? It could be Mark Meadows, could be Meadows' staff. It could be the prosecutors, thinking it is good for people to see we have a strong case. There's a lot of people who have access to this tape, so no one is going to think maybe it was the prosecutors. It's also worth considering why these tapes are getting out to the public."

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Co-host Mika Brzezinski wondered whether Trump's team leaked the audio themselves.

"I'd like to add, having watched him closely, as well, at times, and having known him, the possibility that he and his team released the audio," Brzezinski said. "There is always that, and I'll tell you why. It is part of his process of desensitizing the public to something that is shocking. This is something Donald Trump does well, then festers on the anger of it, to play in the court of public opinion, which, of course, is important because he is running for president. When you're running for the presidency and you have indictments coming at you, the only way you can get out of jail is to be president. In a way, he is running for his get-out-of-jail free card."

"You see him constantly rationalizing things, lying about them," she added. "He does show off. He's right, there's a lot of bravado there. I remember early on in his presidency, in the first weeks, we were in the Oval Office. He kept saying, 'Have you been in the Oval Office before? Have you ever seen the Oval Office before? Look at this, look at this, look at this, look at look -- look.' lt's look at this. He loves to show off. In the court of law, they don't care what people think. They're using facts to build a case."

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