Leaving the white house. Stand by for our exclusive report. Plus, we are awaiting a final vote in the House Of Representatives on the Debt Limit Deal. This hour ill be getting reaction from a key Progressive Democrat who says she is voting no. Also tonight, attacks on russian territory appear to be escalating. Kremlin officials calling the situation near the Ukrainian Border alarming. One day after Drone Strikes shook the russian capital city of moscow. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. Wolf blitzers on assignment. Im Alex Marquardt, and youre in the Situation Room. And lets get straight to cnns new exclusive reporting on this Special Counsels criminalvection of former president donald trump. Katelyn polantz and paula reid have been working their sources. They are joining us now with the latest. Kaitlan, i want to go to you first. What are you learning about this critical key new piece of evidence . Well, alex, this is an audiotape that the Justice Department now has and is part of their Special Counsel investigation into whether donald trump mishandled National Security secrets and possibly obstructed justice. So, the Justice Department has this audiotape. Theyve heard it. They have asked people about it in a grand jury. They have asked other people about it including the current chairman of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff mark milley. And the reason that they are asking about it is because it appears to be quite significant. So this audiotape we have not heard, but its been described to us by multiple sources. And on it donald trump is at a meeting At Bedminster where he has his golf resort in new jersey. And in this meeting, its trump, some of his aides, some people working on a book for his former Chief Of Staff mark meadows. During this meeting donald trump is talking about apparently a plan that existed from the pentagon where the chairman of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff mark milley was presenting to trump the possible option of bombing iran. Now, all reporting that we understand is that trump wanted to bomb iran or have some sort of Military Attack there. And milley did not want to do that. And at this point in time in july of 2021, there were some stories coming out about how milley and others had stopped trump from taking this really aggressive Military Action at the very end of his presidency. So donald trump was quite angry, and in this meeting hes talking about this plan. Hes talking about a document that milley has. Hes also rustling a paper. That can be heard on the tape. Now, we dont know exactly what document hes having there, but hes apparently referring to a document that he wants to share more widely, and also acknowledging that he cant share it because its classified, and thats a really key piece of this, too. Now, mark meadows, his former Chief Of Staff, he writes about this into this book, this particular episode of bedminster. Donald trump recalled a fourpage report typed up by mark milley himself which contained the generals own plan to attack iran, deploying massive numbers of troops. The Justice Department has locked down this audiotape and gotten testimony about people who were in the meeting, we know at least one person an aide in the meeting. She has testified to a grand jury and shes doing all of this evidence that theyre gathering, this is the sort of thing where donald trump does not have hes talking about Classified Information to people who do not have clearances. Alex . And, paula, how significant is this going to be to jack smith, the Special Counsels investigation . Our sources have told us this is incredibly significant to the Special Counsel. They described this recording as, quote, important to this overall investigation because this is trump in his own words saying that he retained at least one classified document, and while he suggested that he would like to share it, he acknowledges the limits of his ability to declassify materials after he has left the white house. And that is significant because it undercuts all the public explanations he has given for those powers, for that authority, and for the status of these materials that were in his possession. Lets listen to a few of the ways he has tried to explain this. First, what he said to our colleague and coauthor here, Kaitlan Collins at our town hall. Why did you take those documents with you when you left the white house . I had every right to under the president ial records act. You have the president ial records act. I was there, and i took what i took, and it gets declassified. I have no classified documents. And, by the way, they become automatically declassified when i took them. Several months earlier, he gave a different explanation to fox news. Lets take a listen. If youre the president of the in any case, you can declassify just by saying its declassified, even by thinking about it. Because youre sending it to maralago or to wherever youre sending it. When you send it, its declassified. I Declassified Everything. Now, his lawyers also sent a letter to congress insisting that he was only in possession of these classified materials because things were very chaotic at the end of his administration and were inadvertently packed up. But this recording undercuts all of those defenses. Now, in a statement, a representative for former President Trump says, in part, that this is, quote, media harassment, and its just more proof that when it comes to President Trump, there are absolutely no depths to which they will not seek as they pursue their, quote, witch hunts. Now, ill also note that most of the focus so far in this investigation and in the reporting, alex, has been on maralago. But the fact that this meeting happened At Bedminster and that he appears to have had this document up there at his new Jersey Golf Club really brings the investigation into a different theater. We know that they did search bedminster late last year. Based on this recording, it appears that classified materials may have, for a time, been in new jersey as well. A new angle on all this. Paula reid and katelyn polantz, terrific reporting, along with our colleague Kaitlan Collins. Stand by as we bring into this discussion more of our political and National Security experts. Thank you all for joining me. This recording just described by paula and katelyn Capture Trump acknowledging the limitations on the ability to declassify documents. How damning do you think this is going to be . I think its very damning, particularly for the prosecutors decision whether to charge or not. I can easily imagine trump defending himself or his lawyers defending him in trial saying he didnt understand at the time just what he could declassify, et cetera. But for the prosecutors who need to be certain that they have evidence of his state of mind, Something Like this would be very significant to them and could get them over the hump of being worried about proving his state of mind. Beth, you used to brief the former president. When you heard that he was allegedly waving around classified plans to hit iran in front of these people who had no Security Clearance at his new Jersey Golf Club, whats your reaction . Well, i mean, incredible disappointment. If i was doing that, i would be in jail. This cant be okay for someone at a certain level to do something, whereas the average person who works in the government wouldnt. Right. This is something that no one else could do or they would certainly get in trouble for doing. Lets listen to a little bit more of what the former president told our Kaitlan Collins at the recent cnn town hall. When it comes to your documents, did you ever show those classified documents to anyone . Not really. I would have the right to. By the way, they were declassified what do you mean not really . Not that i can think of. Maggie haberman, does this new reporting, in your opinion, speak to trumps motivation in keeping classified documents and then showing them to other people . I dont know if it speaks to his motivation. I think this is an incredible story. And my hats on of to cnn for getting it. What it speaks to his mindset is that whether he knew that those documents were classified and he automatically Declassified Everything that, there was a Standing Order in the white house. Therefore, none of this was improperly in his possession. It depends on the words on the tape. We dont know exactly what his language is. I havent heard it. Theres a small group of people, as i understand it, who have. If he says, you know, something that indicates that he is aware that this material is either classified or sensitive in nature or something, and that possibly he shouldnt have it in his possession, that would undercut what their public defenses have been and, frankly, private defenses have been for some time. I think this gets to mindset as much as anything. The fact that its on tape is very striking. And this is not a secret recording. His own aides routinely taped everything for these book everywheres. They knew they were taping. We do know that the Justice Department recovered hundreds of classified documents from maralago. But as paula just pointed out, this meeting took place At Bedminster, at this other golf club of trump. Do you believe that theres a pattern of behavior here . Well, i think this is something prosecutors have been investigating. We know that there was a huge back and forth between the trump team and prosecutors through much of 2021, the second half excuse me, 2022, the second half of it, about whether there would be additional searches of trumps properties. And, as we know, once there were these additional searches that were done basically under threat of some kind of action by doj, they turned up additional the trump team turned up additional classified material at a storage unit and in trumps own bedroom. So, i think thats something youre going to see prosecutors point to. And this document that trump was allegedly waving around, beth, claims is allegedly about plans to strike iran. What do you make of those claims by trump and about the position of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff mark milley . It was mark milleys job and still is to provide any kind of order that the president would give about a military operation. It doesnt seem to me farfetched that youd get an options paper, and, of course, if the president wanted to attack iran, a Military Officer would have a pretty robust attack plan. But that doesnt mean that mark milley, General Milley is a war mongerer. Quite the opposite. I spoke to him many times during my role as an intelligence official. And he absolutely did not want to go to war with iran. The military does prepare really for many, many different options. Paula reid, back to you. How do we think that this recording is going to be informing this Special Counsels thinking about possible charges against the former president . Well, as one of our sources told me, this is a problem for the former president , for his attorneys. Whats interesting is so much of the reporting was recently focused on questions about obstruction, because thats where a lot of the new reporting has focused. But whats interesting about this recording is it provides possible evidence of other crimes that are under investigation, mishandling Classified Information, retaining government secrets. As ive said in other hits that this Justice Department has been reluctant to bring cases that are solely Obstruction Without an underlying crime, which is why it was unclear if charges would be pursued in this case at all against the former president or against anyone else. But knowing that theyre asking witnesses including mark milley about this, this is significant. It really gives us some insight into the breadth and depth of this investigation, and the legal peril facing former President Trump. Yeah, it is certainly a deepening potential peril that he is in. I want to thank you all for weighing in on this very important breaking story. Just ahead, with eyewitness have much more on the political fallout from this exclusive new cnn reporting on the criminal investigation of donald trump. Plus, were keeping an eye on congress, where the house is preparing to vote. Ill be getting reaction from the chair. The Situation Room w with wolf blitzer, brought to youou verizon. The Network America relies on. E. And where its going. dock worker right on time. vo robots can predict breakdowns and order their own replacement parts. foreman nice work. vo and retails can get ahead of the Fashion Trend of the day with a new line tomorrow. With a verizon private 5g network, you can get more agility and security. Giving you more control of your business. We call this enterprise intelligence. From the Network America relies on. Hi, im michael, ive lost 70 pounds on golo. I spent thousands on other diets that didnt work. On golo, i spent a couple hundred bucks and got back down to my high school weight. Youre not gonna believe this thing is possible but it is. Neither snowcapped mountains, nor puddles of water, nor unexpected detours with a 20 foot drainage pipe, can stop the ruggedly capable telluride xpro from getting you to your Dinner Reservation on time. Okay kia. Movement that inspires we know patients are more than their disease. Thats why, at novo nordisk, weve spent a hundred years developing treatments to help unlock humanitys full potential. These are the greats People Living with, thriving with not held back by disease. They motivate us to fight diabetes and obesity, Rare Diseases and cardiovascular conditions, for generations to come. So, everyone can meet their moment. Because your disease doesnt define you. So, what will . Novo nordisk. Driving change. If you think you, a child in your care, or another loved one were harmed by endo or a related company, including par or ams, or their products including ranitidine, transvaginal mesh, or opioids like opana®, opana® er, or percocet®, your rights may be affected by deadlines in the endo bankruptcy. You may be entitled to payment as part of endos bankruptcy, but you must file a claim by july 7, 2023. You may file a claim on behalf of yourself, a child in your care including a child exposed to opioids in the womb , or a deceased or disabled relative. Also, if you hold a claim or interest in endo, the deadline to object to the potential sale of endos assets is july 7, 2023. For more information visit endoclaims. Com you need to deliver new apps fast using the services you want in the clouds of your choice. With flexible Multicloud Services that enable Digital Innovation and enterprise control, vmware helps you innovate and grow. In washington tonight, all eyes are on the house floor as the bipartisan Debt Limit Deal comes up for a final vote. Our chief Congressional CorrespondentManu Raju Is Standing by for us on capitol hill, and our chief White House CorrespondentPhil Mattingly has more on the president s push to get democrats on board with this agreement. Lets begin with you, manu raju. What are you hearing from sources about how all this is going to go down, and whether House SpeakerKevin Mccarthy should be worried about how his caucus is going to vote. Well, there is high confidence on both sides of the aisle that this Bill Will Pass, that would suspend the National Debt limit until january 2025, would include a number of Spending Cuts that were negotiated between the speaker of the house as well as the white house. Even though there has been some concerns on both sides of the aisle, a number of members concerned that their respective leaders did not cut a deal that was good enough to them. And that was borne out on the house floor hojust moments ago. 29 republicans voted against moving forward. That is unusual. Typically those proce