established declassification process, one that does not include just thinking about t it, to quote the former president. and the special counsel has a recording t of the former president allegedly showing unauthorized people an iran battle plan document, admitting on tape that it is classified and he knows it and admitting he can t declassify it. as president, i could have declassified it, but now i can t. but this is classified. cnn first reported the transcript of that moment that you just heard back on june 9th. now, that s a day af he was indicted by special counsel jack smith in the classified documents case, when obviously the legal jeopardy phase rose exponentially. initially we did not have the audio of that discussion, just the transcript, which indicates the transcript indicated you could hear him shuffle through papers. and appear to show people in the room that attack plan on iran. the former president sat with fox news and came up with yet another explanation about t
discussion, and we could all hear him say that these documents were secret. later that day came his next shifting line of defense that there was no classified document on his desk when he was talking to that grouch people, that it wasn t real. quoting the president, i would say it was bra voir diredo, if you want to know the truth. i was talking and holding up papers, but i had no documents. i didn t have any documents. then today we heard him swing back to one of his first excuses, saying this to breitbart. i m protected by the presidential records act totally. it shouldn t even be a case. it s not a criminal case. so, there s that. and now cnn has learned that very real iran battle plan document was returned to the national archives in january of last year. so, we start tonight off with paula reid and the new information about the latest charges from the special counsel. what have you learned, paula? it s really interesting, in our reporting over the past several days, on the e
the 2024 presidential race. kyung lah is there, joins us now. have any of the candidates addressed trump s latest indictment? reporter: well, the event is ongoing right now. you have mike pence speaking right behind me, anderson. that s why i m speaking at a low volume. among these major candidates, including the former vice president, they have not taken trump head on or addressed these new charges head on. what we did hear earlier in the day in an interview that ron desantis did, he actually did say that republicans have to not pay attention to these distractions, had to look beyond the investigations or they will lose. i want you to take a listen. if the election becomes a referendum on what document was left by the toilet at mar-a-lago, we are not going to win. reporter: that s among the most direct that ron desantis has been taking on these charges and saying that he wants to offer a different path.
before i send boxes, i have to take all of my things out. these boxes were interspersed with all sorts of things, golf shorts, clothing, shoes. there were many things. iran war plans? not that i know of. not that i know of. he s no longer claiming he could and did declassify everything. then eight days later, cnn obtained the audio of the discussion, and we could all hear him say that these documents were secret. later that day came his next shifting line of defense that there was no classified document on his desk when he was talking to that group of people, that it wasn t real. quoting the president, i would say it was bravado, if you want to know the truth. i was talking and holding up papers, but i had no documents. i didn t have any documents. then today we heard him swing back to one of his first excuses, saying this to breitbart. i m protected by the presidential records act totally.
it shouldn t even be a case. it s not a criminal case. so, there s that. and now cnn has learned that very real iran battle plan document was returned to the national archives in january of last year. so, we start tonight off with paula reid and the new information about the latest charges from the special counsel. what have you learned, paula? it s really interesting, in our reporting over the past several days, on the extent to which the former president went to to get around his own lawyers, really relying on lower level employees at mar-a-lago. for example, anderson, we ve learned that one of the employees who s referenced in a critical moment in this indictment is yuscil taveras. he s an information technology worker. he s in charge of the surveillance footage and how it s stored. he finds himself at the center of this case because of a conversation he had with a property manager at mar-a-lago, who has now been added as a codefendant here, carlos de oliveira. de oliveira asked