A former aide to ex-U.S. President Donald Trump appeared in Miami federal court on Monday to face charges related to an alleged attempt to help Trump conceal secret documents taken upon leaving office. Carlos De Oliveira, the property manager of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, did not enter a plea as he has not yet obtained local counsel.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres scheduled De Oliveira’s arraignment for August 10 and ordered him not to discuss the case with other defendants. He was released on a $100,000 bond.
De Oliveira is accused of trying to delete security camera footage and lying to investigators. He faces four charges, including obstruction of justice.
The Justice Department had previously charged Trump and his aide Walt Nauta in June, alleging that Trump stored classified documents haphazardly at Mar-a-Lago and had staff hide them from investigators.
Trump, who is a front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has pleaded not guilty to 37 criminal counts related to this case. He stated during a radio interview that he had turned over all security camera tapes as requested by the government.
Nauta has also pleaded not guilty.
A superseding indictment revealed on Thursday added charges against Trump, Nauta, and De Oliveira, indicating that the case is expanding. This development comes as charges loom in a separate investigation into Trump’s attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss.
Investigators had previously raided Trump’s resort in August 2022 and discovered over 300 secret documents among roughly 11,000 government papers.
According to the indictment, De Oliveira instructed another resort worker to delete security videos of the property after they were subpoenaed by the Justice Department. He and Nauta also allegedly moved boxes of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago to conceal them from the FBI and Trump’s lawyers. De Oliveira is accused of lying to the FBI during an interview, claiming no involvement in moving the boxes.
The initial indictment also alleges that Trump illegally took the documents upon leaving office and stored them in unsecured locations, showing them to unauthorized individuals, including top-secret information about the U.S. nuclear program and military vulnerabilities.
Separate grand juries in Manhattan and Georgia are also investigating Trump’s activities, and his political action committee is expected to report significant legal fees in the defense of Trump and his advisers.
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