The audio clips were acquired by Australia's "60 Minutes," the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. As Business Insider reports, they feature Anthony Pratt, a wealthy donor from Australia, who recounts an interaction he claims to have had with the Trump family during a dinner party.
Billionaire Anthony Pratt Claims Donald Trump Told Melania To Wear A Bikini Around His Friends
According to Pratt, he once sat beside the controversial former president and first lady at dinner years ago, and Donald told him: "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."
The spotlight has been on Pratt's connection with the ex-president recently, as allegations have surfaced that Donald disclosed confidential information to the executive chairman of Visy Industries during his time in office.
After Donald allegedly asked Melania to wear a bikini around his friends, Pratt said that she fired back: "I'll do that when you walk around with me in your bikini."
The specific timing of the dinner party and the identity of the individual(s) Pratt was conversing with in the recorded conversations remains uncertain. Pratt's membership as a paying member of Mar-a-Lago, which is the purported location of the "pool" mentioned in Donald's remarks, is clear.
Hay went on: "Melania is not shy about speaking up, especially to her husband and he likes her spunky attitude." Donald and Melania have yet to respond to Pratt's story and comments, as heard in the recordings.
However, in response to the New York Times' reporting on his conversations with Pratt, Donald took to Truth Social to offer his thoughts. He called Pratt a "red-haired weirdo from Australia" and wrote: "I never spoke to him about Submarines, but I did speak to him about creating jobs in Ohio and Pennsylvania, because that's what I'm all about."
According to anonymous sources who spoke to ABC News, Pratt reportedly claimed during interviews with federal investigators that Donald had divulged details to him about US nuclear submarines around April 2021.
The sources revealed that this information specifically related to the maximum capacity of nuclear warheads that US submarines could transport and the distance they could approach a Russian submarine without being detected.
During an interview with "60 Minutes" in Australia, John Bolton — the twice-impeached former president's previous national security advisor — revealed that he took accountability for the leaked audio and expressed that he was unsurprised by the level of access Pratt had to Donald.
"I think Trump was trying to impress him. 'Well, you may be a billionaire, but I'm a multibillionaire and, besides, I'm president and I know things you don't,'" Bolton shared. He added: "I do think that's very typical Trump behavior."