#Trump faces additional charges in Mar-a-Lago documents case
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump faces new charges in connection with his post-presidency handling of classified documents after the special counsel filed a new indictment Thursday.
The indictment allege that Trump was part of a scheme to delete surveillance footage, and that a newly charged defendant —who was identified as a property manager at Mar-a-Lago — told another employee that “the boss” wanted the server deleted.
That employee, Carlos De Oliveira, who was a maintenance supervisor at Mar-a-Lago, was charged on Thursday. His lawyer, John Irving, declined to comment.
Court documents say that De Oliveira denied that he was involved in moving boxes. “Never saw anything,” he told the FBI, per documents. “Never saw anything,” he repeated.
The indictment lays out what federal authorities say was a scheme to obstruct the ongoing investigation. Trump was very focused on not allowing officials to get their hands on his boxes.
“I don’t want anybody looking, I don’t want anybody looking through my boxes, I really don’t,” Trump said to his lawyer in May 2022, according to the indictment. “What happens if we just don’t respond at all of don’t play ball with them? Wouldn’t it be better if we just told them we don’t have anything here?”
Trump’s lawyer said that Trump later made a “plucking motion” to suggest that he take anything that was “really bad” out. Afterwards, prosecutors suggest, Trump was involved in an effort to delete security camera footage that would show how his employees had moved boxes of documents ahead of the FBI search.
The superseding indictment claims that Nauta and De Oliveira met up at a security guard booth where surveillance footage was displayed on monitors, and that De Oliveira later stepped into an audio closet with another employee and had a conversation that De Oliveira said should be kept between them.
De Oliveira asked the employee how long the server retained footage, and the other employee indicated it was about 45 days. De Oliveira said that “the boss” wanted the server deleted, but the employee responded that he didn’t believe he would have the right to do that and would need to speak with the supervisor of security.
De Oliveira, reiterated that “the boss” wanted it done and asked “what are we going to do?,” according to the indictment.
That conversation took place in late June 2022, just a few weeks before the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago. After that search, the indictment alleges Nauta called another Trump employee and asked about De Oliveira. That unnamed Trump employee then told Nauta that De Oliveira was loyal and would not do anything to impact his relationship with Trump, according to the indictment.
Nauta later wrote in a Signal chat with the representative of a Trump PAC that De Oliveira was loyal, and Trump later called De Oliveira and told the maintenance worker that Trump would get him a lawyer.
Trump and Nauta, have pleaded not guilty to the charges they face, and a trial has been set for May 2024.
Tom Winter contributed.
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