Former President Donald Trump said Thursday that he did not order a Mar-a-Lago staffer to delete security video at the center of an investigation into whether he mishandled classified documents.
"That's false," Trump told "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker.
Pressed by Welker about whether he would testify to that under oath, Trump said, “Sure, I’m going to — I’ll testify.”
“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.”
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The allegation was the basis of a superseding indictment filed in late July against Trump, his valet, Walt Nauta, and Carlos De Oliveira, a maintenance supervisor at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Prosecutors alleged that Nauta and De Oliveira asked a third, unnamed staffer to delete security video at the request of "the boss" after investigators issued a subpoena ordering that the tapes be turned over. Prosecutors have never said the video was deleted, only that Trump asked it to be erased.
Nauta, De Oliveira and Trump have all pleaded not guilty.
The interview, Welker’s first as moderator of “Meet the Press,” will air Sunday on NBC affiliates across the country. NBC News has also extended an invitation to President Joe Biden to sit down with Welker for an interview.
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