Mar-a-Lago resort member and Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt said then-President Donald Trump told him about his private calls with the leaders of Ukraine and Iraq, according to reports published Sunday about Pratt’s private recordings, a key prosecution witness in confidential Trump case documents.
Reports from The New York Times and “60 Minutes Australia” revealed previously unknown recordings of Pratt openly recalling his conversations with Trump — and build on existing allegations that Trump shared sensitive government material.
In the tapes, Pratt says Trump shared inside details about his phone calls with world leaders during his presidency. Pratt also offers scathing criticism of the former US president’s personal ethics.
A CNN previously reported that the Australian gave an interview to special counsel Jack Smith, who accused Trump of misusing national security materials by hoarding dozens of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, Florida (Trump has pleaded not guilty).
The billionaire is also on Smith’s witness list for the trial, which is scheduled for May.
Concerns about Trump’s liberal approach to state secrets are at the heart of this case. Previous ABC News reports said Trump discussed potentially classified information with Pratt about U.S. nuclear submarines.
Sunday’s new reports expand what is known about Pratt’s account of their conversations to include foreign policy issues.
“It hadn’t even been in the news yet and he said, ‘I just bombed Iraq today,’” Pratt said in a recording that was made public on Sunday, recalling a conversation with Trump.
Pratt then recalled Trump’s description of his December 2019 call with Iraqi President Barham Salih.
According to Pratt, Trump said, “The president of Iraq called me and said, ‘You just leveled my city.’ I told him, ‘OK, what are you going to do about it?’”
The recordings also indicate that Trump spoke with Pratt about his September 2019 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which Trump pressured him to help him win the 2020 election by publicly launching baseless corruption investigations against Joe Biden.
This phone call served as the basis for Trump’s first impeachment.
“That was nothing compared to what I usually do,” Trump told Pratt about Zelensky’s call, according to the tape.
“This is nothing compared to what we usually talk about.”
Speaking to The New York Times, Trump highlighted that the Australian billionaire is “from a country that is friendly to Australia, one of our great allies”, although he did not deny the conversations described in the tapes.
A Trump spokesman said the tapes “lack adequate context.”
A CNN reached out to the Trump campaign and Pratt’s company, Visy, for comment.
These latest revelations could be used by Smith’s prosecutors as evidence that Trump had a pattern of sharing sensitive government information with unauthorized people, including political donors and well-connected businesspeople in his orbit.
It is unclear whether prosecutors were already in possession of the tapes that were released on Sunday.
The new recordings also shed light on Pratt’s candid and private thoughts about Trump’s behavior.
It’s unclear who Pratt was speaking to, but Pratt said on tape that Trump “says outrageous things over and over” and compared his business practices to “the mafia.”
“He knows exactly what to say – and what not to say – to avoid arrest. But he comes so close to it that it seems to everyone that he is breaking the law,” Pratt said on tape.
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*Published by Marien Ramos
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
