Donald Trump denies asking his staff to delete Mar-a-Lago security footage, erasing ‘false accusations’, and doubles down on efforts to testify HIMSELF under oath in classified documents case
- Trump indictment says ‘boss’ asked aide to delete footage after federal government visit to MAL in June
- He is accused of conspiring with his collaborators Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira.
- Trump called accusation ‘false’ and said he would testify on a ‘false accusation’
Former President Donald Trump called an accusation in a federal grand jury indictment that accused him of directing aides to destroy security footage “false” and insisted he was prepared to testify in court to support his claims.
Trump made the statement Friday on NBC’s Meet the Press, weeks after a superseding indictment in his classified documents case outlined an alleged plot in which Trump and two of his aides sought to persuade ” corruptly” another employee to destroy security footage at Mar-a-. Lake.
This happened after the FBI visited the club looking for classified documents and other items kept in a storage room.
Asked about the new accusation, Trump told the show’s new host, Kristen Welker, that “it’s false.”
When asked if he would testify under oath, Trump responded: Let me tell you – of course I will – I will testify.
Former President Donald Trump called an accusation in a federal grand jury indictment that accused him of directing aides to destroy security footage “false” and insisted he was prepared to testify in court to support his claims.
A superseding indictment in the Trump classified documents case outlined an alleged plot in which Trump and two aides sought to “corruptly” persuade another employee to destroy security footage at Mar-a -Lago (photo)
Some legal experts said it would be very risky for him to testify in the case, following his deposition in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case, where a jury convicted him of sexual abuse and awarded him 5 million dollars in damages.
Then, Trump attacked special counsel Jack Smith as a “deranged mad prosecutor” and repeated that it was a “false accusation.”
He observed that the titles in question had not in fact been removed, repeatedly referring to them as “my tapes.”
“But more importantly, the tapes were not deleted. In other words, nothing was done to them. And they were my tapes. I could have fought them (the FBI). I didn’t I didn’t even have to give them the tapes, I don’t think. I think I would have won in court. When they asked for the tapes, I said, “Sure.” They’re my tapes. I could have fought them. I didn’t even have to give them. But just so you understand, we didn’t remove anything. Nothing was removed,” Trump said.
The indictment says De Oliveira told another employee that “the boss” wanted the recordings deleted.
This happened after FBI agents went to the private club in Florida on June 3, 2022 to collect documents marked classified.
It says Trump called De Oliveira, his property manager, on June 23 and they spoke for 24 minutes. On June 24, the DOJ sent an email to a Trump lawyer with a grand jury subpoena requesting documents including video surveillance footage.
Trump made the comments in a filmed interview Thursday with new Meet the Press host, NBC’s Kristen Welker (pictured). The clip was released Friday morning
Walt Nauta, Trump’s longtime man, planned to travel to Florida the next day, arriving there on the 25th. The indictment cites texts between Nauta and De Oliveira, and De Oliveira texting “employee 4 to say that Walter is “coming down tomorrow” and “needs you for something.”
He then recounts a scene where De Oliveira took the unidentified employee to an “audio closet” and “told Employee 4 that ‘the boss’ wanted the server taken down.”
What Trump didn’t mention in his interview was that the employee “responded that he wouldn’t know how to do that and didn’t believe he would be allowed 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.
