Audio of Trump Recommends 'Attacking' Iran

Former President Donald Trump at a Republican dinner in Michigan on Sunday. (Reuters)
Former President Donald Trump at a Republican dinner in Michigan on Sunday. (Reuters)
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Audio of Trump Recommends 'Attacking' Iran

Former President Donald Trump at a Republican dinner in Michigan on Sunday. (Reuters)
Former President Donald Trump at a Republican dinner in Michigan on Sunday. (Reuters)

Former US President Donald Trump is back at the news front after an audio recording was leaked of a 2021 meeting in New Jersey where he discusses holding secret documents he did not declassify.

During the two-minute audio, Trump is heard discussing a secret Pentagon plan to attack Iran, hinting that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley was the one who planned the attack.

"He said that I wanted to attack Iran. Isn't it amazing?"

In the audio, Trump is shuffling through papers, saying: "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."

It is customary for the Pentagon to present military plans to the US President as Commander of the Armed Forces as part of a set of preventive plans that depend on several options offered in issues relating to national security.

The recording sheds light on Trump's legal troubles. "As president, I could have declassified it," Trump says. "Now I can't, you know, but this is still a secret."

The audio is an implicit admission that he did not declassify the documents during his term, contrary to the previous claims.

Without a doubt, the new recording will form the basis of the prosecution's arguments in the classified documents case, in which Trump faces 37 counts related to the alleged mishandling of classified documents kept at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

Meanwhile, several Republicans who support the former president in Congress seek to "clear" his record in the House of Representatives, which approved measures to impeach him twice while he was president.

Congresswomen Elise Stefanik and Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced resolutions to formally expunge the impeachments of Trump as if such Articles of Impeachment had never passed the full House of Representatives.

The project puts Republican leaders in an awkward position, as putting it to a vote will force conservative Republicans to take a public stance towards Trump at a time when the former president faces criminal charges and official investigations.

But Republicans who support Trump seek to show their support and loyalty in various ways, including putting forward another project to nullify the first impeachment measures in 2019.

They point out that the procedures did not include holding any congressional hearings on the issue and that the vote was only two days after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it forward to score political gains.



Palestinian Activist Expecting US Citizenship Interview Is Arrested Instead by ICE in Vermont 

Mohsen Mahdawi, center, looks on during a pro-Palestinian protest at Columbia University, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, in New York. (AP)
Mohsen Mahdawi, center, looks on during a pro-Palestinian protest at Columbia University, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, in New York. (AP)
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Palestinian Activist Expecting US Citizenship Interview Is Arrested Instead by ICE in Vermont 

Mohsen Mahdawi, center, looks on during a pro-Palestinian protest at Columbia University, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, in New York. (AP)
Mohsen Mahdawi, center, looks on during a pro-Palestinian protest at Columbia University, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, in New York. (AP)

A Palestinian man who led protests against the war in Gaza as a student at Columbia University was arrested Monday at a Vermont immigration office where he expected to be interviewed about finalizing his US citizenship, his attorneys said.

Mohsen Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident who has held a green card since 2015, was detained at the US Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Colchester by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, his lawyers said.

The attorneys said they do not know where he is. They filed a petition in federal court seeking an order barring the government from removing him from the state or country.

"The Trump administration detained Mohsen Mahdawi in direct retaliation for his advocacy on behalf of Palestinians and because of his identity as a Palestinian. His detention is an attempt to silence those who speak out against the atrocities in Gaza. It is also unconstitutional," attorney Luna Droubi said in an email.

According to the court filing, Mahdawi was born in a refugee camp in the West Bank and moved to the United States in 2014. He recently completed coursework at Columbia and was expected to graduate in May before beginning a master's degree program there in the fall.

The petition describes him as a committed Buddhist who believes in "non-violence and empathy as a central tenet of his religion."

As a student, Mahdawi was an outspoken critic of Israel's military campaign in Gaza and organized campus protests until March 2024. He co-founded the Palestinian Student Union at Columbia with Mahmoud Khalil, another Palestinian permanent resident of the US and graduate student who recently was detained by ICE.

Khalil was the first person arrested under President Donald Trump’s promised crackdown on students who joined campus protests against the war in Gaza. On Friday, an immigration judge in Louisiana ruled that Khalil can be deported as a national security risk.

Christopher Helali, a friend of Mahdawi who lives near him in Vermont, was present outside the immigration office when Mahdawi was detained and recorded a video of Mahdawi being led away by authorities. In the video, which Helali released on social media Monday, Mahdawi is shown giving a peace sign with his hands and being led away to a car.

Helali described Mahdawi as a peaceful demonstrator who has worked to foster dialogue about the struggle of Palestinians in his homeland. Helali said he and Mahdawi were aware that Mahdawi could be detained today and that his friend went forward with the appointment anyway.

"And rightfully so, he was nervous for what was going on around him. But he was very much resolute in coming to this interview and coming today because he didn’t do anything wrong and was a law-abiding citizen, or soon-to-be citizen," Helali said.

Vermont's congressional delegation issued a statement condemning Mahdawi's arrest, saying that instead of taking one of the final steps in his citizenship process, he was handcuffed by armed officers with their faces covered.

"This is immoral, inhumane, and illegal. Mr. Mahdawi, a legal resident of the United States, must be afforded due process under the law and immediately released from detention," said the statement from Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Peter Welch and Rep. Becca Balint.