Trump’s Co-defendants Set To Plea On Charges In Classified Documents Case

Donald TrumpPhoto byGage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

An arraignment for a former personal assistant to former President Donald Trump and a Mar-a-Lago property manager is scheduled for Thursday morning in Fort Pierce, Florida. New allegations have been made by the special counsel in a case regarding the improper handling of confidential documents.

Carlos De Oliveira, the Florida property manager, and Walt Nauta, a former Trump adviser, are facing a number of claims related to the illegal retention of records by Trump after leaving office. Nauta, who was previously accused this summer with Trump, pleaded not guilty to the allegations contained in the original indictment.

Along with Trump and Nauta, De Oliveira was indicted in a recent indictment. He was released after his initial court appearance on a $100,000 bail.

False statement fabrication, plotting to obstruct justice, and purposeful alteration, destruction, mutilation, or concealing of documents are among the charges levied against Nauta and De Oliveira.

Trump earlier this month entered his not-guilty plea and submitted a waiver of presence for the arraignment on the new accusations. The former president is charged with keeping and hiding papers that he was required by law to give investigators after his term in office came to an end.

The updated indictment shows that Nauta cooperated with Trump's order to hide papers in the summer of 2022. To dodge a grand jury subpoena, these documents—which included sensitive information—were relocated from a storage area. In order to comply with the subpoena, several boxes were delivered to Trump's home, which was not the location of the search conducted by a Trump attorney. Before the search began, De Oliveira helped Nauta move some boxes back to the storage area.

Additionally, it is claimed in the indictment that Nauta and De Oliveira misled investigators about their role in moving Trump's boxes and sought to erase security footage from Mar-a-Lago.

Separately, Nauta is pleading for permission to inspect the secret evidence in the case of the documents brought by special counsel Jack Smith. The prosecutor's recommendation that only cleared attorneys be permitted access to the papers was contested by Nauta's legal team in a recent court filing. They argue that contrary to what the government claims, allowing Nauta to see the evidence for himself wouldn't jeopardize national security. They contend that his capacity to examine classified materials is crucial for his defense planning and could refute the prosecution's claim that the improperly handled materials were never declassified.

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