Trump aide charged with obstruction in classified documents case to
appear in court
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[July 31, 2023]
By Jack Queen
MIAMI (Reuters) - An aide to former U.S. President Donald Trump will
make his first appearance in Miami federal court on Monday to face
charges he tried to help the former president hide secret documents
taken upon leaving office.
Carlos De Oliveira, the property manager of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in
Palm Beach, Florida, was accused of trying to delete security camera
footage and lying to investigators. He was charged with four counts,
including obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors first charged Trump and his aide Walt Nauta in June in the
case, alleging Trump haphazardly stored hundreds of classified documents
at his Mar-a-Lago home and enlisted staff to hide them from
investigators.
Trump, front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has
pleaded not guilty to 37 criminal counts. He said during a radio
appearance on Friday that he turned over all security camera tapes the
government had asked for.
Nauta has also pleaded not guilty.
The second indictment, which includes new charges against Trump and
Nauta, is a sign the case is widening and comes as charges loom in a
separate investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn his loss in the
2020 election.
Trump has not yet entered a plea in connection with the latest charges.
Investigators raided Trump's resort in August 2022 and found more than
300 secret documents in a trove of roughly 11,000 government papers.
According to Thursday's indictment, De Oliveira, 56, in June 2022 told
another worker at the resort where Trump lives that "the boss" wanted
security videos of the property in Florida deleted after the Justice
Department subpoenaed them, according to Thursday's indictment.
De Oliveira and Nauta also moved boxes of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago
to conceal them from the FBI and Trump's lawyers, the indictment said.
Prosecutors said De Oliveira lied to the FBI during a voluntary
interview by falsely claiming he had no involvement in moving boxes.
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Former U.S. President and Republican
presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally
in Erie, Pennsylvania, U.S., July 29, 2023. REUTERS/Lindsay DeDario/File
Photo
"Never saw nothing," De Oliveira told the agents, according to the
indictment.
Prosecutors allege Trump took the documents illegally when he left
office in January 2021 and stored them in unsecure locations,
including a ballroom, bathroom and shower. He also showed the papers
-- which included top-secret information about the U.S. nuclear
program and military vulnerabilities -- to people who were not
authorized to see them, according to the initial indictment.
Trump's lawyers met with U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith last week
about the election interference probe. It is not uncommon for
defense attorneys to meet with federal prosecutors before an
indictment.
Trump in April became the first sitting or former U.S. president to
face criminal charges when a grand jury called by Manhattan’s
Democratic district attorney indicted him for allegedly falsifying
business records to conceal hush money payments to a porn star.
Trump has pleaded not guilty, saying the cases against him are part
of a politically motivated "witch hunt."
Separately, a grand jury in Georgia is investigating Trump’s efforts
to overturn the election in that state.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is expected to announce
whether she will charge anyone in the probe in August.
Media over the weekend reported Trump's political action committee
is expected to report on Monday that it has spent about $40 million
in legal fees in the first half of 2023 to defend Trump and his
advisers, among others.
(Reporting by Jack Queen; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Andrea
Ricci)
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