Donald Trump was hit with three new federal charges Thursday night in addition to the ones he already faced related to his alleged retaining of classified documents as a third defendant was named in the criminal case.
Trump, 77, is also charged with one additional count of willful retention of national defense information and two additional obstruction counts.
Now, Carlos De Oliveira, who has been identified as the Mar-a-Lago head of maintenance, has allegedly admitted to prosecutors that he falsely claimed he did not help Trump move boxes out of his residence, according to CNN.
Originally, De Oliveira allegedly told the FBI he “Never saw anything.” However, De Oliveira allegedly told another Mar-a-Lago employee that “the boss” wanted to delete a server containing surveillance footage, according to a new superseding indictment released Thursday, per the outlet.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump prepares to formally accept his party’s nomination on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
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De Oliveira, 56, has been charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice, altering, destroying, mutilating a document, and false statements, as of Thursday. New court documents also identify De Oliveira as someone who allegedly assisted Trump’s aide Waltine “Walt” Nauta reportedly moving about 30 boxes from Trump’s residence to a storage room, CNBC reports.
Trump is accused of 32 counts of willful retention of national defense information (a violation of the Espionage Act); one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice; one count of withholding a document or record; one count of corruptly concealing a document or record; one count of concealing a document in a federal investigation; one count of scheme to conceal; and one count of false statements and representations. He has pleaded not guilty to all counts.
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The superseding indictment claims an employee at his Mar-a-Lago resort deleted security camera footage at his Florida golf club “to prevent the footage from being provided to a federal grand jury,” per CNN.
The new obstruction counts also apply to Nauta, a U.S. Navy veteran who acted as Trump’s personal valet, who also pleaded not guilty. In June, he was indicted as a “co-conspirator” with the former president in the classified documents case.
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De Oliveira has been ordered to appear in Miami federal court on Monday for his first hearing in the case.
Trump’s spokesman Steven Cheung slammed the Justice Department over the new charges.
“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,” he said in a statement.
“Deranged Jack Smith knows that they have no case and is casting about for any way to salvage their illegal witch hunt and to get someone other than Donald Trump to run against Crooked Joe Biden,” he added.
Smith is also overseeing a separate criminal investigation of Trump related to his efforts to reverse his 2020 electoral loss to President Joe Biden. Last week, special counsel reportedly informed Trump that he is a target in that probe, which is usually a sign that the target is about to be charged in a case.
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A grand jury that has been hearing testimony and reviewing evidence in that case in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., ended a session Thursday afternoon without issuing an indictment.
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Trump’s federal criminal trial has been scheduled for late-May 2024 — right at the tail end of the GOP’s presidential primary season.
The trial date had initially been set for Aug. 14, 2023, which likely would have seen court proceedings wrap before primary voting begins. But attorneys on both sides sought to delay it, with special counsel Jack Smith seeking a December 2023 trial and Trump seeking a trial after the 2024 presidential election.
In a new order issued last week, Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon, who is overseeing the case, noted the sheer amount of evidence turned over by prosecutors necessitated more time, setting the date for May.
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With no additional pending delays, proceedings will take place after several GOP presidential primaries in which Trump is running. The former president, who is currently leading in the polls against his Republican competitors, could even be the presumptive party nominee by then, as most states will have already cast ballots.
Each of the charges against the former president carries potential prison sentences, with the obstruction charges carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years per count. Violating the Espionage Act carries a maximum sentence of up to 10 years, and both the conspiracy and false statements charges carry sentences of up to five years per offense.
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