Following CNN’s airing of audio of Donald Trump confessing to having classified documents on Monday night, the man himself put the tape on blast on his social media. But “Morning Joe” panelist Jonathan Lemire noticed one key thing missing from Trump’s words: a denial that the tape is real.
In the audio obtained by CNN, and later by The New York Times, the twice-indicted former president can be heard talking to unnamed people about papers, and is heard rustling them. Those papers reportedly contained confidential plans regarding Iran, and Trump clearly indicates that he doesn’t have the ability to declassify them anymore (which, of course, flies in the face of Trump’s previous claims to Fox News’ Bret Baier).
Shortly after the audio was released, Trump angrily posted on Truth Social, writing that prosecutor Jack Smith “illegally leaked and ‘spun’ a tape and transcript of me which is actually an exoneration, rather than what they would have you believe.” But, on Tuesday morning’s episode of “Morning Joe,” Jonathan Lemire was quick to point out what that post means.
“We should note, in his Truth Social post last night, he didn’t challenge the validity or authenticity of the tape,” Lemire said. “He took a different interpretation of it, but didn’t say it was fake.”
That said, Lemire and his “Morning Joe” colleagues don’t expect this new audio to hurt Trump much, at least among his Republican colleagues.
“You would think so, right? But I mean, how many potential offramps have they had that they passed by?” Charlie Sykes said.
You can watch the full conversation from “Morning Joe” in the video above.
