what a change it made so fast. i feel like anything is possible after accomplishing what i ve done with golo. thank you so much for letting us into your homes. we are so grateful. the beat with katie phang in for ari melber starts now. always good to see and thanks to you for everything. for the rest of you, welcome to the beat. i m in for ari melber. we start tonight with breaking news trump reportedly caught on tape. damaging new evidence in the trump classified documents criminal investigation. cnn is reporting prosecutors have obtained an audio recording of a summer 2021 meeting in which former president donald trump acknowledges that he held on to a classified pentagon document about a potential attack on iran. the recording indicating trump understood that he had retained classified materials after leaving the white house. the report adds on the recording trump s comments suggest he would like to share the information but he s aware of limitations on his abili
transcripts, the recordings? i mean, what makes this indictment so damning as many have said? i think in my mind i don t really understand the conclusion that bill barr comes to that it s incredibly damning. i think there are aspects that are more damning than others but a lot of this hinges on what the judge determines is the state of the law with regard to the status of these documents. i think i have not yet heard how this case is legally distinct from the clinton case or the biden case. when we are talking about retention or wrongful retention of national defense information or classified information, that actually occurs at the time that the documents are removed. returning them at the behest or request of investigators or federal agents does not make the crime not occur. so in terms there s also the obstruction component of this. that s a separate issue all together. certainly that s very true. the obstruction issues are different but the retention crimes owe tur at the t
stripes and even all political persuasions, including donald trump s own former attorney, believe he s in deep peril on an obstruction charge related to the presidential documents that he does not own, that the american people own. but anything that gives evidence and indication that he completely understood that he was not to have other share these documents is just the last nail in a coffin that already has a whole lot of nails in it. maya wylie, i was a paragon of grace. deep peril meaning something deeper. paul, a possible case against trump who has repeatedly asserted he could retain presidential records and, quote, automatically dequalify classified documents. we ve talked a lot about the obstruction component of
mueller report? it is in the mueller report. but remember, there were still parts that were redacted on the obstruction component that related to michael flynn. this is giving us more information, and it is showing us. the truth is always in the details. and it s fascinating to see, for example, multiple members of the trump administration and congressional officials reaching out to michael flynn after he was cooperating, for example. that s a significant piece of information that we only had a little bit of insight into before. why would people in the administration be reaching out to michael flynn, even though they know he is cooperating? it makes no sense. they know he is cooperating. they know robert mueller is investigating. they know that the president is being investigated for obstruction of justice, and they can t stop themselves from reaching out and i think it was they were so concerned about what flynn was saying. and trying to influence flynn. we know from the mueller
there is totally unfair and one possibility that he s talking about some of the financial issues that ken just rattled off and that s certainly a possibility. another possibility is and i think given the fact that it is a reach out from somebody close to the president or the president himself in the period of his presidency sort of last summer, you have to wonder if there is an obstruction component or you know a reach out to him and the period in which he s, you know, having these extraordinary legal troubles that was his own indictment and cooperation agreement reaching out to somebody in those circumstances can be a dicey thing to do. one question that, you know, you have to wonder about is whether that s a separate obstruction question that s being asked at this point. so, it is not just saying