on the bipartisan deal to raise the debt ceiling and cut spending so the nation averts a default next week. president biden and speaker mccarthy are defending the agreement as some of their parties are also railing against it. we ll bring you the results of that vote as soon as it happens. but first, to a cnn exclusive tonight. reporting the federal prosecutors have donald trump on tape in his own words acknowledging that he took a sensitive national security document with him when he left the white house. that is what multiple sources tell cnn. and i ll speak with one of the former president s attorneys in just a moment. but we are told that trump s comments in the 2021 recording suggest that he knew that he kept classified material and wanted to share it, but understood his limitations post presidency. in other words, he knew that this was likely false when he said it. by the way, they become automatically declassified when i took them. and the same goes for this. i
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
to the effect of, you know, if i can show you this if you undermine these arguments. but making clear that he doesn t believe he can show it to them. and i think that is a key part of the story. it s very much is. the other part is that this really gives us one of the first indications of what else might be here. it is not just letters from kim jong-un, what do we know based on your reporting about the military significance of the documents that we are talking about. right, that has kind of been the dispute over was a classified, was not classified. this is a plan that we are told was essentially about potentially striking a run. obviously the u.s. is a lot of plans for the pentagon, backup pans, in case of emergency. and that is what we are told this was. that he was referencing. trying to say, essentially, but it was something that general milley had prepared for him. obviously milley is the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. we are told actually that this was not a
document was declassified. in fact, there is a tape that your client has said, that the document is still classified. so you can make that argument, but only if you are also trying to establish that this document is declassified? i am not going to sit here and dignified leaks that are incomplete, that are unfair, and that are dishonest. this is a lead campaign. and you guys have the access to somebody from the doj or the fbi, they are touting the official line they want you to proceed because they want to legitimize something that was never criminal. and for no other president has there ever been a document retention issue that has been treated as a criminal investigation. why would former president trump have a document that seems to pertain to military plans regarding a very significant u.s. adversary? have them in his possession and be discussing them with people who don t have an appropriate clearance. whether he declassified them or not? why would he do that? you know it is
reclassified. and in fact there is a tape that your client has said that the document is still classified. you can make that argument, but only if you are also trying to establish that this document is declassified. no. i am not going to sit here and dignify leaks that are incomplete, that are unfair, and that are dishonest. this is a leak campaign. and you guys have the access to somebody from doj or fbi. you re touting the official line that they want you to pursue, because they want to legitimize something that was never criminal. and for no other president has there ever been a document retention issue that s been treated as a criminal investigation. why, why would former president trump have a document that seems to pertain to military plans regarding a very significant u.s. adversary, have them in his possession and be discussing them with people who don t have an appropriate clearance, whether he declassified them or not? why would he do that? you know what s really