9 months ago
71 Former US President and 2024 statesmanlike hopeful Donald Trump speaks astatine the Turning Point Action USA league successful West Palm Beach, Florida, connected July 15, 2023.
Giorgio Viera | Afp | Getty Images
Donald Trump connected Friday defended the handling of surveillance footage astatine his Florida location that is astatine the halfway of major caller transgression charges successful the national lawsuit implicit the erstwhile president's retention of classified documents.
"These are my tapes that we gave to them," Trump told a blimpish vigor big successful his archetypal nationalist interrogation since being accused of the caller crimes.
"And they fundamentally past say, 'That's not enough,'" Trump said connected "The John Fredericks Show."
Trump, the starring campaigner for the 2024 Republican statesmanlike nomination, besides vowed to proceed his run adjacent if helium is convicted and sentenced.
"Not astatine all, there's thing successful the Constitution to accidental that it could," Trump said.
A superseding indictment, filed Thursday evening successful national tribunal successful confederate Florida, added 3 transgression counts against Trump connected apical of the 37 helium already faced successful the classified documents case. Trump's valet and alleged co-conspirator, Walt Nauta, besides received further charges. Both person pleaded not blameworthy to the erstwhile charges against them.
The 60-page papers besides added a caller suspect to the case: Carlos de Oliveira, who is described arsenic the spot manager astatine Trump's Palm Beach edifice home, Mar-a-Lago.
The caller charges successful peculiar counsel Jack Smith's probe halfway connected an alleged effort by Trump and his aides to delete video surveillance footage from the spot that was sought by a national expansive assemblage successful June 2022.
De Oliveira told different Mar-a-Lago worker that "the boss" wanted to delete a server containing surveillance footage showing however Trump's boxes had been moved astir astatine the club, prosecutors alleged.
That different employee, who is unnamed successful the superseding indictment, has been identified by NBC News arsenic Yuscil Taveras. The New York Times reported successful May that Taveras was an IT idiosyncratic who had appeared earlier a expansive assemblage that questioned him astir his dealings with Nauta and de Oliveira.
Trump, Nauta and de Oliveira each look 2 caller obstruction counts related to that alleged strategy to delete the footage. Those charges transportation a 20-year maximum situation term, according to the superseding indictment. De Oliveira is besides accused of lying to the FBI when, during a Jan. 13 interrogation astatine his house, helium denied knowing astir the efforts to determination boxes of records astatine Mar-a-Lago.
DeOliveira is acceptable to beryllium arraigned Monday greeting successful U.S. District Court successful Miami earlier a national magistrate judge.
Trump was besides deed Thursday with a caller number of retaining a classified papers detailing a U.S. subject program of onslaught connected Iran, which Trump allegedly showed to a writer, steadfast and 2 unit members astatine his nine successful Bedminster, New Jersey, connected July 21, 2021.
But successful the interrogation Friday morning, Trump said that the surveillance footage had been handed implicit adjacent though helium was not definite that it needed to be.
"I don't deliberation we would person had to springiness it. I'm not definite that we would person adjacent had to springiness it. These were information tapes. We handed them implicit to them," Trump said. "If we wanted to combat that, I uncertainty we would person had to springiness it. But regardless, we gave it."
"I'm not adjacent definite what they're saying," the erstwhile president added. "They're trying to intimidate radical truthful that radical spell retired and marque up lies astir maine due to the fact that I did thing wrong."
Trump besides repeated his erstwhile assertion that helium is shielded by the Presidential Records Act. Legal experts person disputed Trump's characterization of that statute, and it is not 1 of the laws helium is accused of violating. Rather, helium has been charged with violations of laws including the Espionage Act, which carries a maximum punishment of 10 years successful prison.
The peculiar counsel has separately led a transgression probe related to efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn Biden's triumph successful the 2020 statesmanlike election. The peculiar counsel past week informed Trump that helium is simply a people successful that probe, a notification that typically occurs earlier the people is charged successful a case.
