Prosecutors have charged a third person, maintenance worker Carlos De Oliveira, in the case concerning classified documents that former President Donald Trump took from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago estate, according to court filings Thursday.
Trump and his aide Walt Nauta were charged in the case last month, and both pleaded not guilty. De Oliveira was the Mar-a-Lago property manager who allegedly helped Nauta move boxes of classified documents around Trump’s resort and residence in Florida.
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He faces one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice; two counts related to altering, destroying, mutilating or concealing an object; and one count of making false statements and representations.
The new court documents say that De Oliveira and Nauta moved approximately 30 boxes of classified materials from Trump’s residence to the storage room in June of last year. The following day, the filing says, the two loaded several boxes of documents onto an aircraft taking Trump and his family on a summer trip.
But when De Oliveira did a voluntary interview with FBI agents this past January, he repeatedly denied even knowing about the boxes, the indictment says.
Later in June 2022, De Oliveira asked an unidentified Trump employee how long Mar-a-Lago’s server retained surveillance footage, and then told him “the boss” wanted footage deleted, according to the document. The employee allegedly responded that they did not know how to do that, nor did they think they were allowed to. De Oliveira allegedly asked the employee to keep the conversation private.
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Later that day, according to the filing, Trump called De Oliveira and spoke with him on the phone for approximately three and a half minutes.
Federal prosecutors also released more charges against Trump in the classified documents case, including additional counts of willful retention of documents and obstruction of justice. He was previously charged with 37 felony counts in the case.
Trump’s campaign responded to the new indictments shortly after their release and slammed Special Counsel Jack Smith, who oversaw the investigation leading to the 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,” the campaign said in a Thursday 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.”
