Donald Trump told state attorneys during a deposition that he prevented a “nuclear holocaust” during his presidency and that the US “might have a nuclear war now” without him in the White House.
The former president’s testimony from April echoes many of the comments he delivered from the witness stand when he testified during the trial in lower Manhattan several months later.
Meanwhile, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination launched a fresh broadside against rival Nikki Haley ahead of the New Hampshire primary.
Referring to her as “Nimbra”, an apparently deliberate misspelling of her given name “Nimarata” to draw attention to her Indian heritage, Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social that she “doesn’t have what it takes”.
“She’s weak on China, Russia, Borders, and Crime, but never saw a war she didn’t like,” he added.
The attack came after Ms Haley said in a CNN town hall on Thursday about the prospect of Mr Trump once more squaring up to Joe Biden in November: “Do we really want to have two 80-year-olds running for president when we have a country in disarray and a world on fire? They are so distracted by their own investigations and their own grievances.”