The American chain CNN has published an audio of the former president of the United States Donald Trump in which he admits to being in possession of “highly classified” documents, which would give the lie to his previous claims that he had previously declassified these files.

“This totally wins my case, you know? Except that it is something highly confidential,” Trump declared in audios from July 2021, referring to some files on an alleged US plan to invade Iran and that you were sharing with other people on your team who couldn’t have access to that information.

“You see, as president I could have declassified them. I can’t right nowYou know, but this is still secret,” added the ex-president, who was trying to show that the plans for war with Iran already existed before he arrived at the White House. “I’ll give you an example. He said that I wanted to attack Iran. (…) They presented me with this (this is unofficial). This was his. This was both his and the US Department of Defense. (…) This was not planned by me, “Trump said in some recordings that he was aware of, according to CNN.

For his part, Trump has assured that the audio leak is “illegal” and that they have “manipulated” the tape to make him look guilty when in reality it “excuses” him. “This ongoing witch hunt is another Electoral Interference Scam. They are cheaters and thugs!” the former president posted on the Truth Social social network.

The former president has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and has also assured that he had the right to have documents that he had already “unilaterally declassified without going through any formal process.”

Trump faces up to 37 criminal charges ranging from the willful withholding of national defense information to conspiracy to obstruct justice in connection with the investigation against him into more than 300 classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida residence . Likewise, the former president did not inform the Secret Services that he was storing boxes with classified documents. The tycoon would have gone so far as to order his assistant to move the papers from one place to another so that his legal team would not see them and even suggested destroying them.