US special counsel names third defendant in Trump classified document case | Donald Trump News

Federal prosecutors in the United States have charged a third individual for his role in the alleged mishandling and concealment of classified documents held by former President Donald Trump.

Carlos De Oliveira, a maintenance worker at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, has been charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice, lying to investigators and destroying documents, according to court documents on Thursday.

He is the second Trump employee to face federal criminal charges alongside the former president. Trump valet Walt Nauta was indicted in June, at the same time as the Republican leader.

Thursday’s updated grand-jury indictment also includes new charges against Trump and Nauta, including allegations that they and Oliveira tried to suppress evidence by deleting Mar-a-Lago surveillance footage.

Additional Trump charge for Bedminster incident

The new indictment also contains an extra charge related to an incident at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

US news media had previously reported that, in 2021, Trump had bragged about top-secret records outlining a proposed attack on Iran. In an audio recording of the incident, Trump can be heard telling those around him, “Isn’t it amazing? I have a big pile of papers.”

He also played up the fact that the documents he is showing off are “highly confidential, secret”.

“See, as president, I could have declassified. But now I can’t,” Trump said in the recording, seeming to acknowledge the sensitive nature of the documents. He has since made broad claims that he did declassify the documents he is accused of retaining illegally.

Referencing the Bedminster incident, Special Counsel Jack Smith — who is leading federal investigations into Trump — added a count of willfully retaining national defence information under the Espionage Act.

Surveillance footage suppressed

Several of the new charges stem from a new interaction described in the indictment, featuring Oliveira and Nauta.

Oliveira is accused of approaching a fellow Mar-a-Lago employee, Yuscil Taveras, in June 2022 about deleting the server containing security camera footage from the resort.

That was after Trump received a subpoena to surrender any additional classified records.

Oliveira allegedly took Taveras to a room called the “audio closet” and asked him how long Mar-a-Lago’s servers retained video surveillance imagery.

Telling Taveras that “the boss” wanted the server wiped, Oliveira reportedly asked him, “What are we going to do?”

According to the updated indictment, Taveras told Oliveira he did not know how to wipe the server and did not know if he was allowed to.

The indictment also alleges that Nauta himself approached Oliveira about the video surveillance. Footage from the Mar-a-Lago resort was later used as evidence in the federal criminal charges, as it purported to show Nauta transporting boxes of documents in an attempt to conceal them from investigators.

Trump team calls new charges ‘desperate’

In the wake of the new developments, Trump’s campaign issued a statement, denouncing the new charges as a politically motivated attack led by current President Joe Biden.

“This is nothing more than a continued desperate and flailing attempt by the Biden Crime Family and their Department of Justice to harass President Trump and those around him,” the statement said.

Previously, Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 criminal charges, including 31 counts of willfully retaining sensitive national security information under the Espionage Act, five counts of concealing them and two counts of making false statements.

Earlier this month, Nauta likewise pleaded not guilty, as he faced six counts including conspiracy to obstruct justice, false statements and withholding and concealing documents at a Miami courthouse.

Last week, a federal judge set Trump’s trial date in the classified document case for May 2024, less than two months before the Republican National Convention.

Trump is currently seeking a second term as president and is leading the polls as the top Republican contender.

Ongoing criminal woes

Also on Thursday, Trump’s lawyers met with federal prosecutors ahead of a possible second federal indictment, likely about his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.

“My attorneys had a productive meeting with the [Department of Justice] this morning, explaining in detail that I did nothing wrong, was advised by many lawyers, and that an Indictment of me would only further destroy our Country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that the 2020 election was rigged in favour of his Democratic opponent, Biden, who ultimately won the race. Those unfounded claims helped spur Trump supporters to storm the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to disrupt the certification of Biden’s victory.

But any additional indictment would come on top of the existing array of legal jeopardy Trump already faces.

Not only does Trump face federal criminal charges for his handling of classified documents, but he also faces state-level criminal charges in New York. Those arise from an alleged hush-money payment he made to an adult film star during his 2016 presidential campaign.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged him with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the hush-money scheme, part of an alleged plot to “bury negative information” about his candidacy.

Trump also faces a civil defamation case brought by writer E Jean Carroll, who was previously awarded $5m in damages in a separate case that concluded in May. A jury at the time found Trump liable for both defamation and sexual abuse.

The former president is also the subject of an investigation in Georgia, where he pushed state election authorities to “find” extra votes to tip the 2020 election in his favour.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has previously indicated that any charges in the Georgia probe would come before September 1.