Donald Trump was charged with three new federal criminal charges on Thursday night and a third defendant was added to the case where the former president already was accused of dozens of felonies related to retaining classified documents at his Florida residence after leaving the White House.
Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is charged in a new superseding indictment with his valet, Walt Nauta, over an alleged attempt to delete video surveillance footage at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, during the summer of 2022.
At that time, FBI and Department of Justice officials were seeking the return of government records they suspected of being kept at that location.
The new counts of obstruction and willful retention of national defense information, adding fresh detail to an indictment issued last month against Trump and a close aide. The Florida charges came as a surprise at a time of escalating anticipation of a possible additional indictment in Washington over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The latest allegations also make clear the vast, and still not fully known, scope of legal exposure faced by Trump as he seeks to reclaim the White House in 2024 while fending off criminal cases in multiple cities.
The updated indictment from special counsel Jack Smith centers on surveillance footage at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, evidence that has long been vital to the case.
Trump is also newly accused of retaining a classified document detailing a U.S. military plan of attack on Iran, which Trump showed to a writer, publisher and two staff members at his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, on July 21, 2021.
At the time, Trump had not been president for six months, and his guests “did not have security clearances” to view the document, according to the superseding indictment in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Carlos de Oliveira, the third defendant added to the case against Trump and Nauta, is head of maintenance at Mar-a-Lago.
De Oliveira allegedly told another Mar-a-Lago employee that “the boss” wanted to delete a server containing surveillance footage showing how Trump’s boxes had been moved around at the club, according to the superseding indictment.
The new charging document also identifies de Oliveira as the person who helped Nauta move about 30 boxes from Trump’s residence to a storage room.
He also allegedly told the FBI he was not involved in moving documents that officials sought, telling agents, “Never saw anything.”
The newly added charges against Trump include an additional count of willful retention of national defense information and two new counts of obstruction against both him and Nauta.
The new obstruction counts relate to the alleged efforts by Trump, Nauta and de Oliveira to delete Mar-a-Lago security camera footage that was sought by a federal grand jury in June 2022.
With the new charges, Trump now faces 40 criminal counts in the case, the most serious counts against Trump carry 20-year maximum prison terms.
De Oliveira, 56, was charged Thursday with conspiracy to obstruct justice, altering destroying, mutilating a document and false statements. De Oliveira has been ordered to appear in Miami federal court on Monday for his first hearing in the case.
Trump and Nauta have pleaded not guilty in the case. A trial in the case has been scheduled for May, just months before the general election.
A Trump spokesperson dismissed the new charges as “nothing more than a continued desperate and flailing attempt” by the Biden administration “to harass President Trump and those around him” and to influence the 2024 presidential race.
