--- title: Donald Trump Caught on Tape Discussing Classified Documents description: The recording, broadcast on CNN, includes a moment when Trump appears to indicate he was holding a document regarding possible military action against Iran. canonical: https://time.com/6290489/donald-trump-tape-classified-documents/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-06-27T03:40:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-01T14:51:08.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Caught on Tape Discussing Classified Documents og:description: The recording, broadcast on CNN, includes a moment when Trump appears to indicate he was holding a document regarding possible military action against Iran. og:url: https://time.com/6290489/donald-trump-tape-classified-documents/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd55574cf5c5e90d3/698a3e2e09208fc4f641a79f/donald-trump-washington-dc.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Key Speakers At The Faith And Freedom Coalition Conference og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Caught on Tape Discussing Classified Documents twitter:description: The recording, broadcast on CNN, includes a moment when Trump appears to indicate he was holding a document regarding possible military action against Iran. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd55574cf5c5e90d3/698a3e2e09208fc4f641a79f/donald-trump-washington-dc.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 video:duration: 01:48 video:published: 2023-06-13 section: politics topics: Trump arraignment, crowd chants, political rally, supporter reactions, federal indictment, Miami court appearance, public demonstration genre: news report, on-the-ground footage tones: energetic, loud, partisan, tense emotions: enthusiasm (high), defiance (medium), excitement (high) sentiment: neutral audience: news viewers, political followers, US voters people: Donald Trump content_suitability: politics [00:00-01:48]; crime [01:12-01:19] transcript_source: automatic transcription transcript_reviewed: not applicable ---  # ‘I Could Have Declassified It, But Now I Can’t’: Trump Discusses Iran-Related Docs on Tape > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=2e96e18c-8af0-4d89-8380-4bf0e91f3e2c&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Donald Trump Pleads Not Guilty in Historic Federal Arrest in Classified Documents Case [Watch (HLS stream): Donald Trump Pleads Not Guilty in Historic Federal Arrest in Classified Documents Case](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/bYrpxhxe.m3u8) (1:48)  _Published 2023-06-13. Donald Trump appeared before a federal magistrate judge in Miami on Tuesday afternoon for a moment unprecedented in American history, as the former President pleaded not guilty to 37 felony counts related to his alleged mishandling of classified national security documents after leaving the White House._ Description, summary, key points, chapters, key quotes, questions and transcript, where present, were produced automatically from the video or its captions and were not reviewed. ## Summary The video captures crowd chanting and reactions surrounding Donald Trump's federal court appearance in Miami. Supporters repeatedly chant 'USA' and 'We want Trump' in the audio. One voice expresses approval of Trump and a call for more politicians like him. Another chant refers to Trump having been indicted, and a call-and-response about food for everyone is also heard. The transcript contains no narration, so the material consists of crowd sounds and brief spoken remarks. ## Key points - Crowds chant 'USA' repeatedly over the opening minute of the video. (00:00) - One speaker says Trump is doing the right thing and that more politicians like him are needed. (01:00) - The crowd chants 'We want Trump' multiple times. (01:06) - A chant states that Trump has been indicted, repeated three times. (01:12) - A call-and-response asking 'Are you ready?' is paired with the chant 'Food for everyone!' (01:19) ## Chapters - [00:00 to 01:00] Crowd chants 'USA'. A large crowd repeatedly chants 'USA' for the first minute of the video. - [01:00 to 01:48] Support for Trump and indictment chants. Voices express support for Trump, chant for him, reference his indictment and call out about food. ## Key quotes - [01:06] crowd: "We want Trump!" - [01:12] crowd: "Trump been indicated!" - [00:00] crowd: "USA!" - [01:19] crowd: "Food for everyone!" ## Questions this video answers - What are crowds chanting at the scene of the event? [00:00] - How do supporters express their feelings about Trump? [01:00] - What do people chant about Trump's indictment? [01:12] - Is there any chant unrelated to politics heard in the crowd? [01:19] ## Content suitability - politics [00:00-01:48]: Politically charged crowd chants and supportive remarks about Donald Trump and his indictment. - crime [01:12-01:19]: Chant references Trump having been indicted. by [Tim Smith / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Tim Smith / Bloomberg Contributor Updated: Dec 1, 2023 2:51 PM UTCPublished: Jun 27, 2023 3:40 AM UTC Donald Trump appeared before a federal magistrate judge in Miami on Tuesday afternoon for a moment unprecedented in American history, as the former President pleaded not guilty to 37 felony counts related to his alleged mishandling of classified national security documents after leaving the White House. by [Tim Smith / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Tim Smith / Bloomberg Contributor Updated: Dec 1, 2023 2:51 PM UTCPublished: Jun 27, 2023 3:40 AM UTC Former President Donald Trump is heard discussing what he calls “secret information” that he says he doesn’t have the power to declassify in an audio recording of a 2021 meeting in New Jersey, after he had left the White House. The recording, [broadcast](https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/26/politics/trump-classified-documents-audio/index.html) on CNN’s _Anderson Cooper 360_ and posted by outlets including the New York Times, includes a moment when Trump appears to indicate he was holding a document regarding possible military action against Iran, according to the reports. “This was done by the military and given to me,” Trump is heard saying on the tape, which Bloomberg has not been able to independently verify. “It’s so cool,” he later says. In the [federal indictment against Trump](https://time.com/6286271/trump-indictment-details-unsealed-classified-documents/) handed up earlier this month, prosecutors said the former president had been recorded during a July 2021 meeting at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, talking about a military “plan of attack” document that was “highly confidential” and “secret.” The government accused him of showing it to other attendees who lacked the required security clearance to see it. “See, as president I could have declassified it, but now I can’t,” Trump said in the recorded remarks that could undercut his defense that documents he kept after leaving the White House had been declassified. The former president, in a post on his Truth Social platform late Monday night, said the tape had been “illegally leaked” and was “actually an exoneration, rather than what they would have you believe.” It wasn’t clear what Trump meant by his comments about the tape being an exoneration. _—With assistance from Mario Parker and Jon Herskovitz._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6290489/donald-trump-tape-classified-documents/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6290489/donald-trump-tape-classified-documents/"},"headline":"‘I Could Have Declassified It, But Now I Can’t’: Trump Discusses Iran-Related Docs on Tape","datePublished":"2023-06-27T03:40:09.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-01T14:51:08.000Z","description":"The recording, broadcast on CNN, includes a moment when Trump appears to indicate he was holding a document regarding possible military action against Iran.","url":"https://time.com/6290489/donald-trump-tape-classified-documents/","keywords":["Donald Trump","wire","uspoliticspolicy"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd55574cf5c5e90d3/698a3e2e09208fc4f641a79f/donald-trump-washington-dc.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tim Smith / Bloomberg"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd55574cf5c5e90d3/698a3e2e09208fc4f641a79f/donald-trump-washington-dc.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Key Speakers At The Faith And Freedom Coalition Conference","caption":"Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the Road to Majority's Faith and Freedom policy conference in Washington, DC, U.S., on Saturday, June 24, 2023.","creditText":"Nathan Howard—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6290489/donald-trump-tape-classified-documents/","name":"‘I Could Have Declassified It, But Now I Can’t’: Trump Discusses Iran-Related Docs on Tape"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Donald Trump Pleads Not Guilty in Historic Federal Arrest in Classified Documents Case","description":"Donald Trump appeared before a federal magistrate judge in Miami on Tuesday afternoon for a moment unprecedented in American history, as the former President pleaded not guilty to 37 felony counts related to his alleged mishandling of classified national security documents after leaving the White House.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/bYrpxhxe/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2023-06-13T23:30:44.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/bYrpxhxe.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/6290489/donald-trump-tape-classified-documents/","duration":"PT1M48S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/6290489/donald-trump-tape-classified-documents/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```