In May 2021, TRUMP
caused some of his boxes to be brought to his summer
residence at The Bedminster Club. Like The Mar-a-Lago Club, after TRUMP’s presidency, The
Bedminster Club was not an authorized location for the storage, possession, review, display, or
discussion of classified documents.
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- On July 21, 2021, when he was no longer president, TRUMP gave an interview in
his office at The Bedminster Club to a writer and a publisher in connection with a then-forthcoming
book. Two members of TRUMP’s staff also attended the interview, which was recorded with
TRUMP’s knowledge and consent. Before the interview, the media had published reports that, at
the end of TRUMP’s term as president, a senior military official (the “Senior Military Official”)
purportedly feared that TRUMP might order an attack on Country A and that the Senior Military
Official advised TRUMP against doing so.- Upon greeting the writer, publisher, and his two staff members, TRUMP stated,
“Look what I found, this was [the Senior Military Official’s] plan of attack, read it and just show
. . . it’s interesting.” Later in the interview, TRUMP engaged in the following exchange:
TRUMP: Well, with [the Senior Military Official]—uh, let me
see that, I’ll show you an example. He said that I
wanted to attack [Country A]. Isn’t it amazing? 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. This
was him. This was the Defense Department and him.
WRITER: Wow.
TRUMP: We looked at some. This was him. This wasn’t done
by me, this was him. All sorts of stuff—pages long,
look.
STAFFER: Mm.
TRUMP: Wait a minute, let’s see here.
STAFFER: [Laughter] Yeah.
TRUMP: I just found, isn’t that amazing? This totally wins my
case, you know.
STAFFER: Mm-hm.
TRUMP: Except it is like, highly confidential.
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STAFFER: Yeah. [Laughter]
TRUMP: Secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this.
You attack, and—
TRUMP: By the way. Isn’t that incredible?
STAFFER: Yeah.
TRUMP: I was just thinking, because we were talking abo
And you know, he said, “he wanted to at
[Country A], and what . . .”
ut it.
tack
STAFFER: You did.
TRUMP: This was done by the military and given to me.
I think we can probably, right?
Uh,
STAFFER: I don’t know, we’ll, we’ll have to see. Yeah, we’ll
have to try to—
TRUMP: Declassify it.
STAFFER: —figure out a—yeah.
TRUMP: See as president I could have declassified it.
STAFFER: Yeah. [Laughter]
TRUMP: Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.
STAFFER: Yeah. [Laughter] Now we have a problem.
TRUMP: Isn’t that interesting?
At the time of this exchange, the writer, the publisher, and TRUMP’s two staff members did not
have security clearances or any need-to-know any classified information about a plan of attack on
Country A.
- In August or September 2021, when he was no longer president, TRUMP met in
his office at The Bedminster Club with a representative of his political action committee (the “PAC
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