Former President Donald Trump adamantly denied asking a staffer to delete security footage at his Mar-a-Lago residence, saying that he would be willing to testify under oath against the “fake charge.”
The former president discussed the allegations against him that resulted in three additional charges being filed by special counsel Jack Smith in the classified documents investigation during an interview with Kristen Welker for NBC's Meet the Press that will air Sunday.
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“Look, it’s a fake charge by this deranged lunatic prosecutor who lost in the Supreme Court nine to nothing, and he tried to destroy lots of lives,” Trump said in a portion of the interview released Friday morning. “He’s a lunatic. So it’s a fake charge.”
WATCH: Former President Trump calls allegations that he asked a staffer to delete video evidence from Mar-a-Lago is “false.”
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) September 15, 2023
Kristen Welker: “Would you testify to that under oath?”
Trump: “Sure.” pic.twitter.com/PYqgS6O4Sn
Trump explained, “the tapes weren’t deleted. In other words, there was nothing done to them.”
“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,” said Trump.
The legally embattled former president reiterated, “Just so you understand, though, we didn’t delete anything. Nothing was deleted.”
Trump faces numerous charges related to his handling of classified documents, including obstruction of justice. Trump has adamantly denied the deletion of the Mar-a-Lago security tapes.
"MAR-A-LAGO SECURITY TAPES WERE NOT DELETED. THEY WERE VOLUNTARILY HANDED OVER TO THE THUGS, HEADED UP BY DERANGED JACK SMITH. WE DID NOT EVEN GO TO COURT TO STOP THEM FROM GETTING THESE TAPES. I NEVER TOLD ANYBODY TO DELETE THEM. PROSECUTORIAL FICTION & MISCONDUCT! ELECTION INTERFERENCE!" Trump posted on Truth Social in July.
Prosecutors allege that Trump staffer Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago maintenance worker Carlos de Oliveira attempted to delete the security footage.
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De Oliveira purportedly told another employee that "the boss" wanted the server "deleted" on June 27, 2022, shortly before an FBI raid recovered hundreds of classified documents in Trump's estate.
As Trump runs for president again in 2024, he faces the challenge of battling numerous felony charges from four different indictments, including the classified documents case, the Fulton County election interference case, the Jan. 6 case, and the hush money case.