Donald Trump DENIES he told staffer to delete Mar-a-Lago security footage brushing off ‘fake charge’ and doubles down on plan to testify HIMSELF under oath in classified documents case

Former President Donald Trump called a charge in a federal grand jury indictment that accuses him of telling aides to destroy security footage ‘fake’ and insisted he is willing to testify in court to back up his claim.

Trump made the statement to NBC’s Meet the Press Friday, weeks after a superseding indictment in his classified documents case sketched out an alleged conspiracy where Trump and a pair of aides sought to ‘corruptly’ persuade another employee to destroy security footage at Mar-a-Lago.

That came after the FBI had visited the club in search of classified documents and other materials being held in a storage room there.

Asked about the new charge, Trump told the program’s new host Kristen Welker ‘that’s false.

Asked if he would testify to that under oath, Trump responded: Let me tell – sure, I’m going to – I’ll testify.’

A superseding indictment in Trump’s classified documents case sketched out an alleged conspiracy where Trump and a pair of aides sought to ‘corruptly’ persuade another employee to destroy security footage at Mar-a-Lago (pictured) 

Some legal experts have said it would be highly risky for him to testify in the case, after his deposition in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case, where a jury found him guilty of sexual abuse and awarded her $5 million in damages.

Then Trump attacked special counsel Jack Smith as a ‘deranged lunatic prosecutor’ and repeated his claim it was a ‘fake charge.’

He observed that the security in question had not, in fact, been deleted, repeatedly calling them ‘my tapes.’

‘But more importantly, the tapes weren’t deleted. In other words, there was nothing done to them. And, they were my tapes. I could have fought them [the FBI]. 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. Just so you understand, though, we didn’t delete anything. Nothing was deleted,’ Trump said.

The indictment says De Oliveira told another employee that ‘the boss’ wanted the tapes deleted.

That came after FBI agents visited the private Florida club 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, DOJ emailed a Trump lawyer with a grand jury subpoena seeking materials including CCTV footage.

Trump made the comments in an interview filmed Thursday with new Meet the Press host, NBC’s Kristen Welker (pictured). The clip was released Friday morning  

Trump’s longtime body man Walt Nauta made plans to travel to Florida the following day, arriving on the 25th. The indictment cites texts between Nauta and De Oliveira, and De Oliveira texting ‘Employee 4 to say Walter is ‘coming down tomorrow’ and ‘needs you for something.’

It 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 deleted.

What Trump didn’t mention in his interview is that the employee ‘responded that he would not know how to do that, and that he did not believe that he would have the rights to do that.’

Trump, Nauta, and De Oliveira have all pleaded not guilty to charges against them.

The indictment also describes an afternoon encounter where De Oliveira ‘walked through the bushes on the northern edge of The Mar-a-Lago property to meet with Nauta on the adjacent property, and that the two men met on the adjacent property.

Trump phoned De Oliveira that afternoon.