Liberal celebrities gleefully reacted to an audio recording of former President Donald Trump allegedly showing classified documents to people without clearance.
In a two-minute tape obtained by CNN and aired on “Anderson Cooper 360” Monday night, Trump was recorded speaking to a staffer and memoir writer about a top secret Pentagon document outlining a strategy to attack Iran.
The incident reportedly took place at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey in July 2021, and pieces of the conversation are cited in the DOJ’s 37-count federal indictment for mishandling classified documents.
Former Obama senior advisor Dan Pfeiffer tweeted that “it would be hard to imagine a more d**ning bit of audio,” in a Monday night tweet.
The Trump audio:
"See as president I could have declassified it. Now I can't, you know, but this is still a secret."
"Now we have a problem," a staffer responds. pic.twitter.com/ftNqOTnfZn
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) June 27, 2023
“This clip of Trump puts the Nixon tapes to shame,” the post read. Frozen star Josh Gad reacted with an astonished “HOLLYYYYYYY SHIIIIIIIT.”
“How many other times did Trump show our nation’s top secrets to others who had no business seeing them?” Star Trek actor George Takei posted.
“Listening to the audio, he clearly got off on it,” he continued. “Loved the power and authority of it all. He probably did it a lot of times.”
How many other times did Trump show our nation’s top secrets to others who had no business seeing them?
Listening to the audio, he clearly got off on it. Loved the power and authority of it all. He probably did it a lot of times.
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) June 27, 2023
Rosemary’s Baby star Mia Farrow wrote that “Trump knew he had classified material (re Iran) & he was showing it off to people.”
Last night on National television Donald Trump admitted to committing Federal Crimes. So there’s that.
— Rob Reiner (@robreiner) June 20, 2023
She noted that he admitted the document was “highly confidential” and “so cool” in the post.
“Its an additional crime to show classified info to a person who is not authorized see it,” Farrow added in a follow-up tweet.
“Truly revolting,” Two And A Half Men‘s John Cryer reacted. “Even the people talking to him make my skin crawl.”
Biden: “I sold a lot of state secrets.”
DOJ: we need a distraction. Release the audio of Trump talking to a writer about having classified documents!
— 🇺🇸Travis🇺🇸 (@Travis_in_Flint) June 27, 2023
The recording began with a staffer saying that Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley had said Trump was trying stage a “coup,” but alleged that there been a coup against Trump himself prior to taking office.
“He said that I wanted to attack Iran, Isn’t it amazing?” Trump replied as papers ruffled.
“I have a big pile of papers, this thing just came up. Look. This was him. They presented me this – this is off the record but – they presented me this,” he continued. “This was him. This was the Defense Department and him.”
The audio file indicates that Trump located the document in question and showed it to the two women that could be heard chuckling.
“I just found, isn’t that amazing? This totally wins my case, you know,” he stated. “Except it is like, highly confidential.”
The audio gets even more damning for Trump’s case as he continues on. “This is secret information. Look, look at this,” he said while seemingly displaying the document.
They had an aside about how former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would have emailed the plan to former aide Huma Abedin’s disgraced husband Anthony Weiner, who Trump referred to as “the pervert.”
When the 45th president brought the conversation back to Milley, who accused him of wanting to attack Iran.
“These are the papers,” Trump remarked. “This was done by the military and given to me.”
“I think we can probably, right… Declassify it,” he kept going. “See as president I could have declassified it.”
Braking News: Trump just released a statement on the DOJ leaks 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/c94PJhL9Jj
— Freedom 🇺🇸🦅 (@PU28453638) June 27, 2023
“Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret,” Trump wrapped up. “Isn’t that interesting?”
The former president clapped back about the leaked tapes and claimed that they would actually exonerate him of his alleged crimes.
“The Deranged Special Prosecutor, Jack Smith, working in conjunction with the DOJ & FBI, illegally leaked and ‘spun’ a tape and transcript of me which is actually an exoneration, rather than what they would have you believe,” he posted.
“This continuing Witch Hunt is another ELECTION INTERFERENCE Scam. They are cheaters and thugs!” Trump added.