WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump has received additional charges over his handling of classified documents after the special counsel filed a new indictment Thursday.
The latest federal indictment was filed in the Southern District of Florida and alleges Trump was involved in a scheme to delete security video footage at Mar-a-Lago and an employee, identified as a property manager at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, told workers “the boss” wanted the server deleted.
That employee has been identified as Carlos De Oliveira, the maintenance supervisor at Mar-a-Lago. He was charged Thursday as well in the indictment.
According to the court documents, De Oliveira denied that he was involved in moving boxes, telling the FBI he “never saw anything”.
The indictment alleges Trump was part of a plan to obstruct the investigation despite getting a subpoena.
“I don’t want anybody looking, I don’t want anybody looking through my boxes, I really don’t,” Trump told his lawyer in May 2022, according to the indictment. “What happens if we just don’t respond at all or don’t play ball with them? Wouldn’t it be better if we just told them we don’t have anything here?”
The superseding indictment goes on to detail how De Oliveira and Walt Nauta met at a security guard booth where security video was displayed.
De Oliveira reiterated that “the boss” wanted it done and asked, “what are we going to do?” according to the indictment.
The conversation took place back in 2022, according to the indictment. Nauta called an unnamed Trump employee to ask about De Oliveira. That unnamed employee said De Oliveira was loyal and would not do anything to affect his relationship with Trump, according to the indictment.
The former president blasted the indictment in an interview with Fox News later in the day, calling the charges “ridiculous” and saying his legal troubles are “prosecutorial misconduct.”
“It’s election interference at the highest level,” said Trump. “They’re harassing my company, they’re harassing my family and by far, least importantly of all, they’re harassing me.”
