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Trump now faces 40 charges in the case, after originally being
indicted on 37 counts last month. His valet, Walt Nauta, is also
facing new charges, and prosecutors have added a third defendant
and another Trump employee, Carlos De Oliveira, to the criminal
case. Here's a look at the new charges.
DELETING SECURITY FOOTAGE
The new indictment charges Trump, his co-defendant and valet
Nauta and a third Trump employee, De Oliveira, with attempting
to delete security footage at Mar-a-Lago after they were sent a
grand jury subpoena for the videos in June 2022.
Prosecutors allege that De Oliveira told another employee that
"the boss" wanted a server containing security footage to be
deleted. After the employee said they did not know how and
believed they didn't have the right to, De Oliveira allegedly
asked, "what are we going to do?"
The indictment claims that Trump called De Oliveira before and
after the incident, and that Nauta and De Oliveira were also in
touch.
Prosecutors have charged Trump, Nauta and De Oliveira with
obstruction over the attempt to delete the footage. The
indictment also adds De Oliveira to an existing obstruction
charge, claiming he conspired with Trump and Nauta to hide
sensitive government documents.
FALSE STATEMENTS
Prosecutors have also charged De Oliveira with making false
statements and representations in a voluntary FBI interview in
January 2023.
De Oliveira told the FBI that he did not help move boxes at
Mar-a-Lago. "Never saw nothing," he said, despite having
personally helped to move the boxes when they arrived at Mar-a-Lago
in January 2021, according to the indictment.
UNLAWFUL RETENTION
The new indictment alleges Trump retained one more document
containing national defense information than was listed in the
original charges.
That document appears to be one that was described in the
original indictment, in an incident where Trump bragged about a
"plan of attack" against another country in an interview at his
New Jersey golf resort. The former president then presented the
document in the exchange with a writer, publisher and two Trump
staffers who all lacked security clearances.
Trump is now charged with 32 counts of unlawful retention of
national defense information.
(Reporting by Jacqueline Thomsen in Washington; Editing by
Christopher Cushing)
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