a newly released audio recording in the investigation of former president Donald Trump's handling of classified documents could be critical evidence for prosecutors and give them the opportunity to try the case in New Jersey in it Mr Trump appears to acknowledge he held on to sensitive military documents after leaving office the recording comes from a July 2021 meeting at Trump's Bedminster Golf Club the audio recording was quoted in the Justice Department's 37 count indictment of the former president where he references information about a plan of attack on Iran Trump now denies possession of the document saying instead he was referring to a pile of newspaper clips and other papers his defense team says the recording proves Trump did nothing wrong but it does show Bedminster was the scene of a key episode in his indictment for more on what this means in the case I'm joined by former U.S Department of Justice prosecutor Mary McCord it's a pleasure to get to talk to you before we even get into the recording I want to bring it home here to New Jersey because what I find interesting is that so much of this investigation has focused on Mar-A-Lago but two very Vivid scenes in this investigation play out here in New Jersey and I'm wondering your take on whether or not this could become sort of the grounds for the next move with the special counsel well I think that the two episodes of dissemination actually showing classified information to people who are not authorized to receive it those two examples were included in the indictment but you're right those happened in New Jersey at Bedminster I think they were included in the indictment because Jack Smith and his team expect them to be admissible in evidence under a rule that allows evidence of other crimes to be admitted in order to prove things like knowledge and intent and absence of mistake but you're right if for some reason the judge in Florida decides to exclude that evidence one possibility is that Jack Smith could bring a case in New Jersey he certainly seems to have the evidence to support such a case I think to do so now might be perceived as piling on but he could certainly do so if it seems like that kind of evidence was not going to be admitted in the in the case in Florida that's interesting piling on and you make a good point that it's not new evidence it's listed in the indictment let's take take a listen though this is just a snippet of the recording if we can play that quickly isn't that amazing this totally wins my case you know except it is like highly confidential secret there's a secret information look at this this President I could have did last yeah no I can't you know but this is that interesting okay so we heard the former president there saying that this wins his case he's referring to a military document that outlines an attack on Iran he's saying that it's secret information but that he did not declassify it while he was president of course he can no longer do so uh because he's not president at the time so doesn't this though undercut Mary the claims that he has made up until this point about not having that intent or knowledge absolutely it really decimates his defenses you know he's his defenses have changed over the course of time but one that he said repeatedly is that he Declassified everything when he left the White House and so here he clearly was admitting this wasn't Declassified I could have Declassified it before the left white I left the White House but I don't have that power anymore so it all and it also undercuts any idea that he even believed these were personal records right and not he's been saying recently under the presidential records act I alone can designate what our personal records and everything in these boxes remember some of the boxes from Mar-A-Lago did make their way to Bedminster um I I alone could designate what's personal in those boxes but here he admits these are secret documents I'm not really supposed to be showing them to you and by the way his callous disregard for National Security for a petty political dispute with General milley is pretty shocking and should really you know uh be an affront to every American who cares about our national security particularly when he then ends it with and can you bring us some Cokes while we're reviewing the secret information that I shouldn't even be showing you yeah that was an interesting detail there that we got to hear um given your position having had a number of high-ranking seats within the Department of Justice what does this say potentially about the amount of evidence um that this case really has and that perhaps we haven't even gotten a glimpse into just yet well I think you know just even reading the indictment when I first read it there was more in there even than I expected about Donald Trump's involvement from the very beginning from leaving the White House all the way through the many many months that the national archivist was trying to get back presidential records and then all the way through his uh obstructing justice or at least it's alleged and there's what seems to be abundant evidence to support is obstructing the investigation after he was subpoenaed to return all classified information and National Defense information to the government so you know the the we've now also learned last week throughout filing by the government that they have at least 84 Witnesses who they intend to call and so that's that's a huge number of witnesses um I I the the case here seems very strong in terms of the evidence and I think it's just you know that the prosecutors don't put everything in indictment so we'll we will learn more um uh certainly at trial but probably also learn more in the coming months as we approach trial okay given that will the government get its trial before let's say a November election well the government has now sought a December 11th trial date and they've filed that with the court and they've explained you know sort of week by week and month by one month what they a schedule that they propose in order to start trial December 11th the court has asked the defense Mr Trump's lawyers to respond by July 6 to that trial proposed trial date my guess is they'll try to delay it and this is where the judge judge Cannon has some discretion here to a grant longer delays as long as she thinks it's in the interest of Justice I think it's very very doable to get to trial before the election next year um and I think the government's going to be trying very hard to do that so far judge Cannon seems to be trying to move things along um but we'll see because she has it in her control to set that trial date Mary McCord is a former doj official and the executive director of The Institute for constitutional advocacy and protection at Georgetown University, Mary thank you you're welcome