Former President Donald Trump may have shared delicate state secrets during conversations with a wealthy overseas elite, according to new claims from Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt.
Pratt, who has faced questioning by special counsel Jack Smith in one of two federal investigations against the former president, recounted his private discussions with Trump and described his business practices as being “like the mafia,” according to a recording obtained by 60 Minutes.
WILL GUILTY PLEAS IN TRUMP’S GEORGIA RICO CASE DAMN HIS EVENTUAL TRIAL?
“He said, ‘So I just bombed Iraq today,'” Pratt, whose net worth is roughly $24.3 billion, recalled in the recorded audio what Trump told him in December 2019. Pratt further alleges that he was told about the strike before the media published reports on the incident.
Three months after President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, Pratt met Trump at his Mar-a-Lago office for a meeting, during which the Australian businessman suggested that his country should buy submarines from the United States.
Trump then allegedly leaned in toward Pratt and described a number of nuclear warheads that U.S. submarines typically move around with and how close they can supposedly get to a Russian submarine without detection, sources told ABC News earlier this month.
The former president has been charged by Smith with allegedly taking classified documents with him from the White House after leaving office and obstructing efforts to retrieve them. Pratt is also listed as a potential witness who could testify against Trump at a trial next year.
In Pratt’s interviews with Smith, he allegedly divulged the submarine discussion they had post-presidency, a discussion that Trump denies ever happened. Another witness told prosecutors about Pratt spending $1 million for tickets to a Mar-a-Lago New Year’s Eve gala and volunteering to pay the club a sizable markup for the tickets that actually run about $50,000 per entry, two people familiar with the matter told the New York Times.
The government has charged Trump with seven counts, including retaining national defense secrets in violation of the Espionage Act, and the latest revelation of his purported discussions with Pratt showcases the potential conversations Trump had regarding U.S. national security.
Pratt has also bragged about his connections with figures in Trump’s inner circle, including Rudy Giuliani, whom Pratt has said he paid $1 million to attend his birthday party as a celebrity guest.
The FBI executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8 last year and recovered troves of documents and some information with classified markings, but Trump has denied any wrongdoing. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, an appointee of Trump, has set a trial date for him and two other co-defendants for May 20, 2024, in southern Florida federal court.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The last time Pratt visited Mar-a-Lago was in November 2021, when he flew to Florida to have coffee and meet with Trump, though it’s unclear what they discussed or if they’ve communicated since.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to Trump’s campaign and legal team for comment.
