Former president Donald Trump denied in an interview that he ordered a Mar-a-Lago staffer to delete surveillance video footage at his Florida estate as the Department of Justice has alleged.
“That’s false,” Trump told NBC’s Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker in an excerpt released this week. When Welker asked if he would testify to the allegation under oath, Trump said, “Sure, I’m going to — I’ll testify.”
He also insisted he handed over the intact footage to DOJ prosecutors.
“But more importantly, the tapes weren’t deleted,” he added. “In other words, there was nothing done to them. And they were my tapes. I could have fought them. I didn’t even have to give them the tapes, I don’t think.”
Trump is accused of keeping classified documents — Including attack plans, U.S. nuclear programs, and defense capabilities — in dozens of boxes at his Mar-a-Lago residence. Prosecutors allege that Trump ordered a staffer to move the boxes the day before the FBI visited the property.
Trump’s comments to NBC come less than two months after special counsel Jack Smith filed a superseding indictment in the classified documents case, claiming the former president wanted the footage to be wiped in an attempt to hide evidence from prosecutors. Prosecutors allege that Walt Nauta, Trump’s valet, and Carlos De Oliveira, a maintenance supervisor at Mar-a-Lago, asked an anonymous staffer to delete security videos in June 2022 after the DOJ requested the tapes be turned over.
Nauta and De Oliveira were both charged as co-conspirators in the superseding indictment filed in July. The third unnamed staffer was identified as Yuscil Taveras in several media reports.
Trump’s classified documents trial is set for May 20, 2024. Florida district judge Aileen Cannon will preside over the case, which brings 40 criminal charges against Trump related to his alleged mishandling of classified information after leaving the White House.
“I think I would have won in court,” Trump told Welker in the pre-recorded interview. “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. Just so you understand, though, we didn’t delete anything. Nothing was deleted.”
The full interview will air Sunday on NBC News. Welker is taking over as Meet the Press host from Chuck Todd, who has had the role since 2014.
Trump is also facing indictments pertaining to alleged 2020 election interference in Georgia, his perceived role in the January 6 Capitol riot, and alleged business fraud in New York in connection with hush-money payments to a porn actress ahead of the 2016 election.