Former President Donald Trump recently denied allegations that he deleted surveillance footage from his Mar-a-Lago residence after investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Justice (DOJ) collected classified documents from his estate in June 2022.
Special Counsel Jack Smith recently revealed a superseding indictment against Trump. Smith added new charges of willful retention of national defense information and obstruction.
DELETION DENIED: After being handed a superseding indictment Thursday night by special counsel Jack Smith, former President Donald Trump has denied that he sought to have security footage at his private residence destroyed. More: https://t.co/BL4JsNHR0f pic.twitter.com/v7S13TjHnY
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) July 31, 2023
Prosecutors accused the former president and his aides of asking an employee at Mar-a-Lago to delete surveillance footage so that potential evidence could not be shown before a federal grand jury.
Trump denied such allegations and insisted, which he has repeatedly done, that he and his team had voluntarily handed over the security tapes to the DOJ.
“Mar-a-Lago security tapes were not deleted,” Trump wrote on TRUTH Social.
“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!” he added.
In a later post, Trump compared the recent accusations to those he faced as president concerning his now-debunked “collusion” with the Russian government during the 2016 presidential election.
“They knowingly accuse you of a fake crime, a crime that they actually make up, you fight these false charges hard, and they try and get you on “obstruction.” We are dealing with sick and evil people!” he said.
In a third Truth Social post, the former president said the DOJ allegedly admitted that the surveillance tapes were not deleted.
“The Crooked Election Interference ‘Thugs’ from the DOJ, headed by the worst Thug of them all, Deranged Jack Smith, are now admitting that the Mar-a-Lago Security Tapes were NOT DELETED,” he said.
“That’s not what they were illegally leaking to the press. These guys should be prosecuted for MISCONDUCT. Also, whatever happened to Crooked Joe’s Documents? Where are the ones he sent and stored in Chinatown? Is Deranged Jack going to Indict him for this and, at the same time, receiving BRIBES FROM CHINA?”
Trump, who pleaded not guilty to the 37 federal counts he faces in the classified documents case, claimed that the charges are merely a continuation of a “witch hunt” against him and his supporters.
