The US Special Counsel, Jack Smith, has added new charges against former President Donald Trump in the Florida classified Case. He and his aides have been accused of asking a staffer to delete camera footage at his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago Resort, in the summer of 2022 in an effort to obstruct the classified document investigations.
The indictment claims that Mar-a-Lago maintenance worker De Oliveira informed another worker that “the boss” wanted the server storing Mar-a-Lago surveillance footage destroyed and inquired as to how long it retained footage, according to ABC, a US-based news portal. “What are we going to do”? he allegedly said.
Trump has been charged with three new counts, including two new counts of obstruction and one new accusation of deliberate retention of national security information. CNN reported that Smith has filed new charges against Trump aide Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago maintenance employee Carlos De Oliveria in the case.
The former president has entered a not guilty plea to 37 federal counts in the case involving the allegedly mismanaged records, which were brought to the Mar-a-Lago club in Florida after Trump left office. Walt Nauta, Trump’s assistant, has also entered a not guilty plea to several counts involving the improper handling of papers at Mar-a-Lago, including several accusations of obstruction and concealment.
In the superseding indictment, Trump, De Oliveria, and Nauta are accused of attempting to remove surveillance video from Mar-a-Lago in the summer of 2022, leading to two new obstruction counts against them. In addition, it accuses De Oliveria of making false claims during a voluntary interview with the FBI on January 13, 2023, according to ABC. De Oliveria has been summoned to appear at the Miami federal courthouse on July 31, 2023.
