Bob Woodward—renowned Washington Post journalist who with Carl Bernstein broke the Watergate story that toppled the presidency of Richard Nixon—expressed his astonishment at former Republican President Donald Trump's handling of classified documents.
Woodward stated he never witnessed anything like it in his five decades of reporting on national security.
Woodward discussed a recently obtained audio recording during an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper, which revealed Trump boasting about possessing secret Defense Department documents regarding a potential attack on Iran that he chose not to declassify while serving as President.
According to Woodward, the recording highlights the alarming and dangerous threat to national security posed by Trump.
Having extensively interviewed the former President and authored multiple books about his presidency, Woodward found Trump's casual attitude towards national secrets deeply concerning. He raised the possibility Trump may have even shown these documents to others.
You can hear what Woodward said in the video below.
Woodward said:
“It really shows that Donald Trump is an alarming, dangerous threat to national security." ...
“If there’s something to not joke about, this is it. Look, I’ve spent 50 years reporting on national security and I’ve never seen anything like this from anyone.” ...
“It shows he does not understand the obligations of the presidency. He’s running for that office again. And whether you like him or don’t like him, people ought to look at the question: What does this mean about our national security?”
This month, Trump—the leading contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination—was indicted on 37 felony counts related to his handling of classified materials after leaving the White House.
Federal prosecutors allege he jeopardized national security by taking sensitive documents to his Mar-a-Lago resort and obstructed the government's efforts to retrieve them on multiple occasions. The indictment underscores the gravity of the accusations against Trump and their potential impact on national security.
Many concurred with Woodward's assessment.
Woodward has long been on Trump's bad side.
Trump has spent considerable time attacking Woodward’s credibility in an attempt to deflect from recordings of interviews with Woodward in which he admitted to downplaying the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recordings revealed that Trump knew that the coronavirus was “more deadly than even your strenuous flu” and that he “wanted to always play it down” to avoid creating a nationwide panic.
Woodward later rather diplomatically told The Associated Press that Trump "says things that don’t check out."
