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60 Minutes Australia, in a joint investigation with the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, has obtained audio recordings of Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt, revealing his dealings with former US president Donald Trump.
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It’s hardly an insult to say Donald Trump has a big mouth it’s a truth even his most Ardent supporters acknowledge for years what he said has often caused trouble two weeks ago Us Media accused the former president of leaking classified information about America’s submarine Fleet to Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt Trump denies
Any secrets were disclosed but tonight we have our own leak in this joint investigation with the city Morning Herald and the age 60 Minutes has obtained audio recordings of Anthony Pratt they reveal the businessman’s extraordinary dealings with Trump and a whole lot more the maralago resort and private
Club in Palm Beach Florida oozes excess for owner Donald Trump it’s the epitome of luxury the perfect place to wine and dine business Elites who share his views this country is blessed with entrepreneurial Spirit people like Australian Anthony Pratt who sits third on our rich list and joined the ritzy Club in
2017 God Bless America the greatest country on Earth Pratt’s worth 24 billion so the $200,000 Mara Lago membership fee was nothing but the access it bought a friendship with Trump was priceless we’re here to celebrate a great opening and a great gentleman as you know from Australia Anthony Pratt in
2019 as the Australian billionaire expanded his cardboard packaging and Recycling business at a new paper mill in the US then president Trump turned up and dialed in the charm Anthony is one of the most successful men in the world uh perhaps Australia’s most successful man as they say right they
Might have been an unlikely pair but for most observers the relationship between Pratt and Trump was largely unremarkable that is until 2 weeks ago when the American ABC Network reported something strange former president shared potentially sensitive information about America’s nuclear submarines while at marago Donald Trump was accused of not
Being able to shut up in the months after he left the White House allegedly disclosing classified information about America’s nuclear submarine plate to his Aussie friend in all Pratt described what the former president had told him with at least 45 others including six journalists 11 of his company’s employees 10 Australian officials and
Three former Australian prime ministers in typical fashion when the news broke Trump denied any wrongdoing but tonight there’s a startling twist so he’s got this ability to say outrageous things nonstop we’ve obtained secret recordings which reveal what Anthony Pratt thought thought about Donald Trump during his
Tenure in the Oval Office and what Trump thought about the world he’s outrageous he just uh says whatever the he wants and he loves to shock people it’s clear from the tapes Pratt believed Trump loved to brag and it seems no subject was off limits Pratt describes a
Conversation he had with the president in late 2019 shortly after the commander-in-chief had ordered a military strike against Iraq I had even heard it it hadn’t even been on the news yet he said I just bomed Iraq today according to Pratt even after that Trump wouldn’t be quiet he went on to repeat
Details of the private phone call he just had with a furious Iraqi leader he said I just bombed Iraq today and the president of Iraq called me up and said you just leveled my city and he said and I said to him okay what are you going to
Do about it are you surprised that Anthony Pratt got such access to president Trump I think Trump was trying to impress well you may be a billionaire but I’m a multi-billionaire and besides I’m president and I know things that you don’t I do think that’s very typical Trump Behavior Donald Trump’s former
National Security adviser John Bolton is disappointed but not surprised his old boss might have shared non-public information about military action or the private response from Iraq’s leader but he says it was stupid and potentially dangerous well if the disclosure is after uh the event has taken place nonetheless there may still be
Operational reasons as Pilots uh or Personnel on the ground get out of danger uh and that’s why the announcement of uh military strikes often is delayed for some period of time so that we can be sure that those who carried it out are uh back safe home in another conversation Pratt says
Trump told him about an Infamous phone call he made to the leader of Ukraine he wanted president zilinski to investigate the foreign business dealings of Joe Biden’s son hunter in the hope of causing harm to his political rival Trump’s boast was that he could and should have been much tougher yeah
And Trump said uh you know that Ukraine phone call that was nothing compared to what I usually do and he said that Ukraine phone call that’s nothing compared to what we usually talk about so who is this Australian business man he’s billionaire and oh my Lord it looks like they made his hair
Out of Trump’s face and Trump’s hair out of his face when the stories alleging Trump had leaked classified information to Pratt were first broadcast a few weeks ago both men were ridiculed authorities were afraid that Pratt might have told someone else but he didn’t he didn’t tell someone else he told some 45
Else but John Bolton says it’s the former president often disparagingly known as the leaker in Chief who is solely responsible Trump doesn’t have a filter between his brain and his mouth and so the concern that uh he would reveal classified information to uh a foreigner even an ally but a private citizen uh
Struck many people as entirely believable disclosing details of conversations with foreign leaders to an Australian billionaire could it be appropriate well the president can basically say whatever he wants to anybody U and can declassify classified information uh it it’s a question not so much of illegality as of prudence and
Competence to be president and I think when you add all of that up over a 4-year period it could be very substantially damaging for such supposedly good buddies though the secret recordings we’ve uncovered reveal frustrations in the relationship on the tapes Anthony Pratt admires Trump’s ruthlessness while savaging his ethics he knows exactly
What to say and what not to say so that he avoids jail but gets so close to it that it looks to everyone like he’s breaking the law like he won’t go up to someone and say I want you to kill someone he’ll say he’ll send someone to tell someone to kill someone
Trump has long been a showoff but if Pratt is to be believed he often took things too far when he came to his wife Melania Melania who was sitting next to him at dinner he said I asked Melania to walk around the pool in a bikini so all
The other guys could get a look at what they were missing then melanna said back to him I’ll do that when you walk around with me in your biking it certainly confirms for us and reminds us that Donald Trump is is quite happy to demean his own wife in front of other people
And um is that the character that you really want in your next president political and international editor at the city Morning Herald Peter harer says with Donald Trump running again for president the Pratt tapes could play a role in the debate about his candidacy do you think releasing the
Audio of this tape is in the public interest absolutely why because it’s in the public interest to know uh what the former US president potential future US president wants again uh how he conducts himself his relationships with business people his relationship with a particular Australian business person I
Think uh those of us who believe in the Constitution believe that Trump is an aberration uh a departure unique departure that we hope never comes again there strong WR words from John Bolton but they ignore Donald Trump’s massive support in the United States it’s a following that’s fueled by people
Like Rudy Giuliani wow who as you’ll see is another controversial American Anthony Pratt has been trying to Impress you’re laughing why the reaction well it’s a it’s it’s it’s a reaction of U dismay really make America great again again during Donald Trump’s tumultuous years as the Commander in Chief one of his biggest supporters was Rudy Giuliani I don’t know what you need to
Wake you up the Larger than Life former mayor of New York was Trump’s personal lawyer wow not surprisingly Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt cultivated a friendship with the sperin chief in early 200 20 Giuliani was invited to be a special guest at Pratt’s 60th birthday in
Melbourne and to ease the pain of a long trip he was made an offer he couldn’t refuse couple long story short I paid him about a million bucks to come out like as a celebrity guest and um didn’t happen so now he Rings me once a week secret tape recordings we’ve
Obtained reveal Co spoiled Anthony Pratt’s birthday wish the normally serious former National Security adviser John Bolton finds the whole story amusing Mr Pratt has boasted about paying Rudy Giuliani near a million bucks to appear at his birthday party you’re laughing why the reaction well it’s uh it’s it’s it’s a reaction
Of U dismay really uh not not surprising but it’s um uh it’s it’s just hard to describe number one that anybody would would offer something like that and maybe too not so surprising Rudy would take it but uh but not not not appropriate for a friend of the
President uh to to to be doing that because that subjects the president uh to the accusation that uh his uh advisers even though they’re in the private sector are uh being paid for access to him as president thank you what makes these tape recordings all the more remarkable
Is they provide clues about the way Anthony Pratt wields influence Rudy is someone that I hope will be useful one day plus I just think he’s cool it’s not all just sort of like SE of the pant I think that him and Rudy are like that and they’re plotting all this out
Yeah but Pratt’s not stupid he knows he must be careful in his dealings with Trump and Giuliani all of these guys are like the mafia Trump rert Rudy you want to be a customer not a competitor this comparison to the mafia though I mean it’s it’s it’s an
Extraordinary line is there a ring of truth to it well I think Trump often talks like a mafioso in the sense of uh you know doesn’t commit extortion he says uh nice little business you got here it be a shame if anything happened to it the secret recording show Anthony
Pratt’s web of influence isn’t confined to the United States the billionaire has long been known to donate to King Charles’s Charities but what’s less known is why what I’m trying to do is to network with people that can be useful this is Pratt candidly explaining his relationship with the soon to be ke
It’s unclear however who bows to whom preach Jo said when he introduced me to Camila he’s been very useful and I thought well that’s an insult but then I thought oh no it’s pretty being irrelevant my superpower is that I’m rich so I’m useful to him right I see
Him as an undervalued political stock cuz he’s about to be king he just that every he’s a loing stock now but when ke would be laughing back in Australia Anthony Pratt has also worked hard cultivating political heavyweights internal company documents list consultant payments to ex- Prime Minister Paul KY of
$25,000 a month and a former PM Tony Abbott or $8,000 a month Mr keing told us his decade long stint as a consultant for Pratt was no secret and that his advice is limited to being big picture international issues Mr Abbott did not respond to questions at the heart of this we need
To get money out of politics is that not right we need to keep it in check we need to keep it in proportion International editor at the Sydney Morning Herald Peter harer says Pratt has done nothing wrong by trying to wield influence in camra but he does worry about the perception it creates
Well it’s not illegal uh it’s just questionable it throws into doubt uh in the public mind the trustworthiness of the entire system we know that trust in Australian politicians and our political system has been in a long trend of Decline and it’s precisely these sorts of cozy relationships where money is
Exchanged for Access that makes people suspicious in the United States it’s been reported Anthony Pratt has spoken to the FBI and could be called to give evidence about Donald Trump’s alleged mishandling of sensitive information it’s unknown however if Mr Pratt was as effusive to the investigators about Trump as he was on
The secret recordings the last thing he said to me is I was getting out of the car of M don’t worry Anthony America will protect Australia how do you see this Tye playing into the US political debate in the near future it’s simply more ammunition against a man known to be Reckless and
Shows him once again and remember Donald Trump has denied any recklessness with National Security and yet here we have again a clear-cut example where he is reckless with foreign intelligence foreign leaders military operations to a foreign citizen in exchange for money Mr Pratt posed as a friend and a supporter
Of trump during his presidency we now know a lot more about what Mr Pratt really thinks about Mr Trump if you’re friends are describing you in such terms what does that say I’m not sure it’s fair to criticize Mr Pratt for taking advantage of the opportunity that Trump
Presented uh but it’s a pretty sad commentary that Trump presented the opportunity and it’s this kind of behavior that one by one by one maybe it’s like water eroding a rock but we will get to the point where people I think do understand Trump is not fit to be
President when we sent questions to Anthony Pratt and Donald Trump but received no reply hello I’m Nick McKenzie thanks for watching 60 Minutes Australia subscribe to our Channel now for brand new stories and exclusive Clips every week don’t miss out on our extra minute segments and full episodes of 60 Minutes on
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