Donald Trump DENIES telling employee to delete Mar-a-Lago security footage, dismissing ‘bogus charges’ and doubling down on plan to testify HIMSELF under oath in classified documents case
- Trump’s superseding indictment says ‘the boss’ asked an aide to delete footage after the FBI visited MAL in June
- He is accused of conspiring with aides Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira
- Trump called the accusation ‘false’ and said he would testify about ‘fake accusation’
Former President Donald Trump has filed a federal grand jury indictment accusing him of telling aides to destroy “fake” security footage, and he insisted he is willing to testify in court to prove his substantiate the claim.
Trump made the statement on NBC’s Meet the Press Friday, weeks after a superseding indictment in his case involving classified documents outlined an alleged conspiracy in which Trump and a pair of aides tried to “corruptly” convince another employee to share security footage at Mar-a- destroy. Lago.
That came after the FBI visited the club looking for classified documents and other materials kept in a storage room there.
Asked about the new charges, Trump told the program’s new host, Kristen Welker, “that’s not true.”
When asked if he would testify to that under oath, Trump replied: Let me say it – sure, I will – I will testify.”
Former President Donald Trump has filed a federal grand jury indictment accusing him of telling aides to destroy “fake” security footage, and he has insisted he is willing to testify in court to prove his to substantiate the claim.
A superseding indictment in Trump’s classified documents case outlined an alleged conspiracy in which Trump and a pair of aides tried to “corruptly” convince another employee to destroy security footage at Mar-a-Lago (photo)
Some legal experts have said it would be very risky for him to testify in the case, following his testimony in the defamation case against E. Jean Carroll, where a jury found him guilty of sexual abuse and awarded her $5 million in damages .
Trump then attacked Special Prosecutor Jack Smith as a “deranged, insane prosecutor” and repeated his claim that it was a “bogus indictment.”
He noted that the security in question had not in fact been removed and repeatedly referred to them as “my tapes.”
‘But more importantly, the tires have not been removed. In other words, nothing was done with them. And they were my tires. I could have fought them (the FBI). I didn’t even have to give them the tapes, I guess. I think I would have won in court. When they asked for the tapes, I said, “Sure.” They’re my tires. I could have fought them. I didn’t even have to give them. To be clear, we haven’t deleted anything. Nothing has been removed,” Trump said.
According to the complaint, De Oliveira told another employee that “the boss” wanted the tapes removed.
That came after FBI agents visited the private club in Florida on June 3, 2022, to collect documents classified as classified.
It says Trump called De Oliveira, his property manager, on June 23 and they spoke for 24 minutes. On June 24, DOJ sent an email to a Trump lawyer with a grand jury subpoena seeking materials including surveillance footage.
Trump made the comments in an interview filmed Thursday with new Meet the Press host, NBC’s Kristen Welker (pictured). The clip was released Friday morning
Longtime Trump bodyman Walt Nauta made plans to travel to Florida the next day, arriving on the 25th. The indictment quotes texts between Nauta and De Oliveira, with De Oliveira texting “Employee 4 to say Walter is “coming down tomorrow” and “needs you for something.”
It then tells a scene where De Oliveira took the unknown employee to an “audio closet” and “told employee 4 that ‘the boss’ wanted to delete the server.”
What Trump didn’t mention in his interview is that the employee “responded that he wouldn’t know how to do that, and that he didn’t believe he would have the rights to do that.”
Trump, Nauta and De Oliveira have all pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.
The indictment also describes an afternoon encounter in which De Oliveira “walked through the bushes on the northern edge of the Mar-a-Lago property to meet Nauta on the adjacent property, and that the two men met on the adjacent property .
Trump called De Oliveira that afternoon.