360. The former president stays silent a day after exclusive cnn reporting that he is on tape admitting he kept a classified document about a potential strike on iran. Also tonight, how President Biden is doing after a tumble on stage while visiting the air force academy. New details on what caused it. Later, a conversation with a sherpa guide, who saved a climber barely clinging to life in the socalled death zone on mount everest. Good evening. We beginning with a story about the former president caught on tape and admitting to people without the proper Security Clearance that he kept a classified document, and might even have been waving it around, or waving it around as he spoke. Were going talk right now with Kaitlan Collins and cnns alyssa farah griffin, who join me now. Earlier today, former President Trump was shouted questions about cnns exclusive reporting, did not answer those questions. What does it say to you . This is the former president who speaks out about just about everything that he has remained silent so far . Yeah, and hiss comments on the documents as he did multiple times at our town hall. I remember after that if i asked he had ever shown the documents to anyone, and he said not really. We obviously followed up with members of his legal team asking about that comment. We do know at this point they were aware during that town hall of this Audio Recording where trump was talking about what we believe is classified information with other people making clear he couldnt show it to them. So they have been aware behind the scenes that this is something that was in the Special Counsels possession. I think its notable that he stayed silent on it today. He only commented in one print outlet, the cedar rapids gazette, saying it was fake news, but not really disputing the heart of the reporting. I think this has caused consternation among members of his legal team. I dont think all of them were fully aware that jack smiths team had this recording. But it raises real issues because youve seen trumps attorneys last night, one who is still on his team, one who is no longer on the team having a difficult time explaining their past explanations and standing by them because theyre undercut by what he says on the document, according to or on the recording, according to our sources tell us. I just want to play cnns jeff zeleny yelled some questions at the former president. Lets just play that. Mr. President , why did you take classified documents concerning General Milley . Mr. President , why did you take classified documents concerning General Milley . Can you talk about that, please, mr. President . Mr. President , how do those documents get to bedminster, sir . Mr. President , will you talk to us about the classified documents . How do those documents get to bedminster, sir . I mean, we talked about the former president wanting to keep documents, or wanting to keep some documents. Does it make sense to you whats what we now learned yesterday . This Latest Reporting is probably the most damning around the classified documents. I mean, obviously, the former president s argument hinged on this notion of a, he could declassify anything, and anything he had in his possession has been declassified. But he obviously acknowledges that he knows he simply cant decap classified things. There is a process. Ive said before when i was serving in the west wing there were a number of times he wanted to declassify documents, and he ran through to hoops of trying to do that, talking to his National Security adviser, his then director of national intelligence. I can think in a number of cases where we werent able to declassify something because he knows of the hoops he would have to jump through. He knows how the process works. What you also cant forget in this, were not talking about a keepsake like a love letter from kim jongun as absurd as that sounds, were talking about war plans with iran. Something that is actionable u. S. Intelligence that has broad impact that is sitting at a country club in new jersey. This is the height of irresponsibility, recklessness. And if we have any laws governing how we handle classified documents, this is a rock solid case. The former attorney for President Trump spoke to cnns jake tapper a short time ago, tim pelatory. I dont think. Really, when you get down to the facts of the case and the law, i dont think it warrants an indictment. This is a situation where failure of process is what led to documents leaving the white house, going to maralago. Failure of nara to get a facility in palm beach as they have for every other president since reagan, get a facility within the hometown of the president where they move to move the documents to. Thats what led directly to the documents going directly to his house. I think when you take all that together, it becomes a very difficult case to bring. John dean also joins us now. John, do you agree with that . I think hes doing a lot of what aboutism. And he did that throughout his interview with jake where he said this is what happened in the past. And he really didnt address the questions. We know from reporting that it appears a very solid obstruction against mr. Trump for way he did handle it. And to blame it on the national archives, that he is in an Obstruction Situation is kind of absurd, anderson. Kaitlan, your reporting says that we know mark meadows autobiography references a document that he said mark milley had typed up. Uhhuh. I dont think there is is that accurate . About an attack on iran . We are told because it all has to do with Trump Being Furious at mark milley. He always didnt like how General Milley was portrayed in the press and how he was. There was an article that had come out around this time about this recording in the new yorker. Basically saying trump might try to take Military Action in iran. It was a concern that milley had as trumps trying to overturn the election results. They were worried what he would do in those last few weeks when he was still in charge of the nuclear codes. Commander in chief and had all this access. Im told that document is not from General Milley. It wasnt produced by him. That it actually predates since he was chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, which i should note he was also handpicked by trump to be the chief of staff. I think there is questions about that. Thats the other thing here that is a big part of this, was trump trying to settle a score here, because he was mad about the reporting that made it sound like he wanted to take Military Action in iran. He said something to the effect of if you could see what i have, it would undermine what was portrayed as milleys position in this story. So i think thats the other aspect of it. And im curious obviously what the Special Counsel is looking into when it comes to that of trump using it i dont want to use the word blackmail, but using to it the sense to say what milley was saying, what israel his advice was versus what trump was doing. Did that make sense . Did he use documents like this . It makes sense in the world of donald trump. That something as serious as National Security secrets about war plans with one of americas adversaries would actually be being held on for no reason other than to settle a score that is actually like classic donald trump. But i think you cant lose sight of how serious this is. Ive mentioned before mark esper, mike pompeo, Robert Obrien all still travel with fulltime Security Details after the strike, because theyre still targeting him on u. S. Soil. This is an adversary nation. To have war plans sitting at a country club is so incredibly dangerous. John, in your opinion, this conversation has been accurately described by sources. Does this add to the likelihood that jack smith, Special Counsel could see a charge of destruction. The conversation that is on tape apparently does certainly show intent, and does certainly show a rather Reckless Disregard for standards if he was indeed putting out a good bit of information from what was in this apparent classified memo, but yet not letting people actually see it as a very fine line. So i think it does show his very loose attitude toward complying with the regulations that govern and the laws that govern National Security information. John dean, Kaitlan Collins, alyssa farah griffin, thank you. Joining us is olivia troye, who served Homeland Adviser to Vice President pence. In your mind, what is the most concern about a document like this being outside of a secure facility . And again, we dont know the details of this document. Yeah, look, immediately, i think of the great damage to sources and method, and also what is in the document that constitutes Military Planning or names or bases or anything like that that could really put people at risk. And like i was just listening to alyssa and kaitlan and you all talk about this. Iran is a dangerous adversary. This is not someone that you want to just sort over strategically mess around with. Weve seen that they are targeting americans, targeting john bolton, theyre targeting mike pompeo. There have been apparently Assassination Plots on u. S. Soil. So i think to me is how many people accessed these documents . How many people saw this information . And where did it get traveled to . Who else saw it . Saudi arabia would probably be very interested in this, wouldnt they . Maybe israel, maybe russia, maybe china. If this gets into the wrong hands, this could be years of damage. And its also about lives, right. Its also about the lives that are involved with this. And the reason i raise that is because there was just this trivial attitude when it came to Military Planning and the intelligence community. I think a lot of trump and a lot of his inner circle forgot that these are people who served. These are Family Members who serve our country, who deploy, who serve overseas. Its a long time Planning Effort that goes into a lot of these situations, and its just the plain disregard for their lives and the implications for these individuals, that never really factored a lot of the time into the equation because it was all a political game and for political plots and ploys. The other question, of course, why would somebody keep Something Like this, whether its some sort of a trophy, to settle a score, as alyssa was intimating. Or, there is even far more nefarious things if you want a Business Deal with this certain country, and Trading Information or sort of dangling that access to information, i mean, that would be unheard of for a former president. Right. It could lead to bribery. It could lead to bribery of others who knew that these documents were there, right, for people who want access to that information. And so i think i think whats concerning about all of this is there are also apparently in this conversation thats been reported now other people who didnt have Security Clearances and this cavalier attitude. To me i know the question is was it a document for General Milley . Was it Military Planning . Look, the commander in chief can tell someone to go draft out a plan. They may disagree with it, but they still have to go right at that document and present options to them. It doesnt mean that its going to come through. And certainly i know of plenty examples. It doesnt surprise me that perhaps it might have been related to iran, because this wasnt the first time that this came up. It came up along the way where he potentially was very interested in engaging with iran and potentially striking them. Olivia troye, i appreciate your time tonight. Thank you. Coming up next, after President Biden trips and falls at the air force graduation, the video went viral. Also, the growing gop president ial field about to get bigger. A former candidate thinking the bigger the better. Howard joins us. And a Daring Rescue on mount everest. Ill spepeak with a sherpa guid who risked his own life to save another. Eward card. Sometimes youre so busy taking care of everyone else you dont do enough for yourself, or your mouth. But eventually, it will remind you. When it does, aspen dental is here for you. We offer the custom dental treatments you need, all under one roof, right nearby. So we can bring more life to your smile. And more smile to your life. 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But because this isnt the president s first stumble and he is 80 years old, it has gotten questions. Phil mattingly is at the white house tonight. I understand the president just got back to the white house. What did he say about this . The president had several hours on Air Force One to think through his response before he met reporters on his way back into the white house on marine one, and he chose levity. And he pointed a very clear fing either the guilty party. Take a listen. I got sandbagged. Adding a little jig there at the end to try and connote the energy that we saw for most of the day at the air force academy. And i think when he talked to white house officials, they made clear they believe he is fine. Everything they have seen and heard are the president he is fine. His real focus on the way back was ensuring that the issue that has kind of dominated his agenda over the last several months, that Debt Ceiling Immigrant actually got across the finish line. In the u. S. Senate at this moment. Senators are voting on amendments to get to the final passage of that bill, get it across the finish line. The president is expected to watch tonight. So is his team as well. That more than anything else is their priority, making sure that gets to his desk in the coming days before that june 5th deadline. Not necessarily the fall a few hours ago. How was it initially handled by the white house . It was interesting. White house officials were very quick. The Communications Director quickly getting to twitter, making clear that the president was okay, making clear that the sandbag was what was the issue, what the president tripped over. The president , in the video in points to the sandbag. The irony to some degree, and you rempxed what was said in the New York Times report, this tradition which is something that spans pres presidencies, the president going to a service graduation, not only includes remarks, the president spoke for over 30 minutes, but also includes standing there, exchanging salutes and shaking hands to every single graduating members of the graduating class. Thats hundreds of cadets today, something that went off without any issues whatsoever. It was when the president handed out the last diploma, he turned around to walk back to his seat to finish the ceremony that he tripped. It was a very long day, several hours, the president engaged throughout the time. It was when he was over that he actually tripped. But according to white house official, totally fine. Phil mattingly, appreciate it. Whatever problems the president has, he does not have the problem that president ial republican candidates have, candidates that is not name donald trump. All the rest now have to worry about standing out in a field thats already crowded and about to get even more so next week. The crowded field that could be just what the former president is looking forward to. More from cnns jeff zeleny. Reporter so far, donald trump is getting most everything he wanted from the republican president ial campaign. There is no way i can lose iowa. Lets see what happens. I dont think so. Wed have to wed have to do some really bad things to lose at this point. Reporter including a list of rivals thats growing by the week, with the anyone but trump race becoming remarkably clouded. I think its advantageous to trump. I dont like that. Reporter julie is a loyal republican and is sizing up several contenders. But she offered pointed words of advice for those entering the race. Stay for a while. See what happens, but then dont stay too long. Because we need we need to beat the democrats. Reporter as summer approaches, the republican field is starting to burst at the seams, with former Vice President mike pence and former new Jersey Governor Chris Christ