New allegations have emerged against former US President Donald Trump, accusing him of exerting pressure on an employee to delete security camera footage at Mar-a-Lago. The revised indictment now includes three new charges against Mr. Trump: one for wilful retention of defense information and two for obstruction. Additionally, a Mar-a-Lago staff member named Carlos de Oliveira has been indicted in connection with the case.
According to the court documents, Mr. de Oliveira allegedly inquired about deleting the footage, while Mr. Trump and his close aide, Walt Nauta, pleaded not guilty to the charges of obstruction. The new documents detail alleged collaborative efforts between Mr. Nauta and Mr. de Oliveira, the property manager at Mar-a-Lago, to obstruct the Department of Justice’s investigation.
As per the updated indictment, Mr. Nauta and Mr. de Oliveira conspired to delete the surveillance footage after the Department of Justice issued a subpoena requesting the footage of the basement, which reportedly contained confidential documents.
In the court documents, it is claimed that Mr. de Oliveira texted another employee, who was the director of information technology, about Mr. Trump’s request to delete the server. Subsequently, Mr. de Oliveira allegedly pressured the employee to comply with his request, even though the employee lacked the authority to do so, after a private conversation in a small IT room.
The indictment also accuses Mr. Trump of knowingly sharing a top-secret document with biographers during their visit to Mar-a-Lago. The document supposedly contained potential plans to attack “Country A,” which media outlets identified as Iran. Mr. Trump allegedly displayed the document to one of his guests during the visit.
The case is being led by special prosecutor Jack Smith, who has also been investigating alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election results. Mr. Trump’s lawyers met with Mr. Smith’s office over this separate investigation earlier.
In response to the latest charges, Mr. Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign issued a statement dismissing them as part of an “illegal witch hunt,” while Mr. Trump faces a host of other legal issues, including a hush-money case, civil charges in a defamation case, and potential charges from Georgia prosecutors regarding the alleged election result manipulation.
