Trump’s lawyers turn over audio recordings of more interviews to special counsel: CNN

Attorneys representing Donald Trump have turned over audio recordings of interviews to the special counsel, CNN reports.

Special counsel Jack Smith’s Wednesday court filing revealed that investigators have obtained “more tapes of interviews with Trump conducted by non-government entities and recorded with his consent but did not say what the tapes said or how they were obtained.”

The special counsel had previously obtained a 2021 audio recording of Trump’s interview at Bedminster with authors of a Mark Meadows memoir in which prosecutors allege Trump shared classified information.

The special counsel’s office has obtained recordings of interviews Trump had with journalists and book authors, according to the report, which cites sources familiar with the matter.

CNN’s Paula Reid and Katelyn Polantz write for the cable channel’s website that, “The new reporting provides more insight into how the special counsel conducted its investigation and what kinds of evidence it has. Prosecutors are required to turn over all of the evidence they have collected to Trump’s defense team, even if it is not going to be used in the case at trial.”

The new recordings don’t show Trump discussing classified material, according to the report, which cites two sources.

Trump’s attorneys don’t believe the new recordings contain any incriminating information in connection with the 37-count indictment against the former president over the handling of classified material, which was unsealed last week, the report said.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Reid and Polantz write that the July 2021 Bedminster club interview that’s central to the special counsel’s case “captures a few-minute segment where the Trump discusses a classified document and suggests he was showing it to others in the room. That recording, first reported by CNN, is described in the 37-count indictment, and prosecutors included quotes from the transcript such as, ‘This is secret information. Look, look at this … See as president I could have declassified it.’”

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