Right-wing media are standing by Donald Trump in the wake of a leaked tape of the former president admitting that he did not declassify documents taken from the White House and showing that Trump knew he could not retroactively declassify them, which contradicts a key part of his legal defense.

CNN first reported the leaked audio of Trump seemingly talking about classified documents — specifically, “a secret Pentagon document with plans to attack Iran.” In the July 2021 tape, Trump says, “See as president I could have declassified it,” adding, “Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.” One of his staffers responds, “Now we have a problem.” 

Prior to the audio’s release, Trump denied he was referring to a classified document during a June 19 interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, instead claiming that he was showing newspaper and magazine clippings. The tape is part of the prosecution’s evidence against Trump, and the leak’s origin has become suspect by many in right-wing media. 

This is the latest attempt from right-wing media to provide Trump with a public defense after he was indicted earlier this month on 37 felony counts related to the mishandling of classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Their misleading news coverage is responsible for a large part of America thinking that the DOJ’s case against Trump is politically motivated.

Now, right-wing media have largely glossed over Trump’s comments about the tape to downplay the former president’s remarks and attack whoever leaked the audio. However, some right-wing media figures have acknowledged that the former president’s comments released on the audio recording contradict many of his previous defenses.

Downplaying Trump’s admissions in the leaked audio or deflecting to other irrelevant topics

• OAN played the portion of the tape of Trump saying, “This totally wins my case,” and included his dig at Hillary Clinton and Anthony Weiner before parroting his defense: “Trump blasted the FBI and the DOJ for quote, ‘illegally leaking and spinning the tape.’” [One America News, One America News, 6/27/23]
• Fox News host Sean Hannity spun Trump’s words to add plausible deniability: “That does not confirm for me whether or not specifically this document was declassified or not. Was that actually the real document, or was it a story he was telling?” [Fox News, Hannity, 6/26/23]
• On his radio show, Hannity claimed Trump’s leaked comments “don’t prove a thing as far as I'm concerned,” adding, “If you're a conservative, you know, we've got a very different system of law.” [Premiere Radio Network, The Sean Hannity Show, 6/27/23]
• Real America’s Voice host Charlie Kirk downplayed the tape, saying, “If this is the best piece of evidence that [special counsel] Jack Smith has, this should infuriate you.” Kirk added, “We’re gonna try to put Donald Trump in prison for a hundred years because he ruffled some papers near a writer?” [Real America’s Voice, The Charlie Kirk Show, 06/27/23]
• On Rumble, Russell Brand downplayed the severity of Trump’s retention of classified materials, stating: “We all basically know that everyone's corrupt. We all basically know that people look at those censored materials. I’m not surprised by this stuff.” [Stay Free, 6/27/23]
• Louder with Crowder host Steven Crowder insinuated that the leak was a distraction from the Hunter Biden case and downplayed the Trump audio, saying, “They want to keep the Donald Trump audio leak at the top of the news — there’s nothing new here.” [Louder with Crowder, 6/27/23]
• Newsmax’s Greg Kelly: “When you're talking about ‘let’s have a few Diet Cokes,’ you don't think you're in the middle of a crime, and he was not in the middle of a crime.” [Newsmax, Greg Kelly Reports, 6/27/23]
• Right-wing blog The Washington Free Beacon published “FACT CHECK: CNN Trump Audio Reveals Inconvenient Truth About Democrats,” focused entirely on Trump’s comments on Weiner. [The Washington Free Beacon, 6/27/23]

Focusing on the leak itself and not the contents of the audio recording

• On Twitter, Kirk attempted to question the legality of CNN’s actions, stating, “Are Jack Smith and DOJ leaking supposed classified info to CNN? Why is Trump's alleged ‘leaking’ considered a felony, while the DOJ’s constant leaks are just their way of doing business?” [Twitter, 6/27/23]
• Newsmax host Shaun Kraisman attempted to point the finger back at CNN, claiming the recording “shows you that the mainstream media will go as far as they can” to smear Trump. [Newsmax, The National Report, 6/27/23] 
• On Newsmax, former Trump acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker claimed that the leak was evidence of “Jack Smith and the special counsel trying to try this case in the public opinion,” adding, “I think that is just inappropriate and inconsistent with the principles of federal prosecution.” [Newsmax, Wake Up America, 6/27/23]
• Hannity bemoaned the existence of a “two-tiered system of justice” in deflecting to the investigation of Biden’s handling of classified materials, stating, “It's kind of weird because there are virtually no leaks from Biden’s document investigation, if there even really is one.” [Fox News, Hannity, 6/26/23]

Acknowledging the tape hurts Trump’s legal defense

• The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro stated that the audio shows that “Donald Trump pretty much admits on tape to doing the thing that he's accused of doing.” However, Shapiro would go on to malign the prosecution as unjust and politically motivated by Attorney General Merrick Garland. [The Daily Wire, The Ben Shapiro Show, 6/28/23] 
• On her daily show for American Family Radio, former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis claimed the recording “is a problem for President Trump,” adding, “Off the record is not a defense. This is problematic.” [American Family Radio, Jenna Ellis in the Morning, 6/27/23]
• Appearing on Fox News’ The Story with Martha MacCallum, Baier asserted that “it doesn't sound like he's pointing to newspaper clippings or magazine clippings, it sounds like he's pointing to something in the tape that he said he could have declassified when he was president but he didn't and now he can't.” [Fox News, The Story with Martha MacCallum, 6/27/23]
• Your World host Neil Cavuto said that Trump’s comments on the recordings “seem to be damning for the former president.” Politico’s Daniel Lippman pushed back on Trump’s defense, claiming, “I'm sure there were newspapers interspersed, but I don't think Jack Smith would have just charged based on keeping a lot of newspapers, this is not an episode of Hoarders here.” [Fox News, Your World with Neil Cavuto, 6/27/23]
• Axios reporter Josh Kraushaar called the tape “the smoking gun” on Fox News’ Special Report. He added: “Legally, the prosecution has a very good case against Trump. Politically it doesn't seem like the needle has moved much since the federal indictment against Trump. You look at the latest polling, Trump has only — in the primary at least — expanded.” [Fox News, Special Report, 6/27/23]
• In an online article for Fox News, Howard Kurtz pushed back on Trump’s defense, stating, “I don’t quite see how this is an exoneration.” [Fox News, 6/28/23]
• The Washington Examiner published comments from former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, who claimed it was “game over” for Trump based on the leaked recording. [Washington Examiner, 6/27/23]