Donald Trump faces further charges in Mar-a-Lago documents inquiry

Former US President Donald Trump is accused of pressuring an employee to delete security footage at his Florida estate to obstruct the investigation into the classified documents case.
Donald Trump
Donald Trump
The new charges relate to Mr Trump's alleged handling of government documents at Mar-a-Lago.

Mr Trump has now been charged with one count of wilful retention of defence information and two of obstruction.

Prosecutors say the footage shows illegally-held files being moved.
Mar-a-Lago staff member Carlos de Oliveira has also been indicted. He is alleged to have asked what could be done to delete the footage.

Mr Trump has pleaded not guilty alongside his close aide Walt Nauta, who also received two additional charges of obstruction on Thursday.

Shush emojis and orders from the boss - new charges in full
The revised indictment outlines alleged efforts between Mr Nauta and Mr de Oliviera, the property manager at Mar-a-Lago, to obstruct the justice department's investigation.

According to the new court documents, Mr Nauta and Mr de Oliveira conspired to delete footage from security cameras after the Department of Justice issued a subpoena asking for surveillance footage of the basement where it said confidential documents were held.

In the court documents, Mr de Oliveira is claimed to have texted another employee who was the director of information technology that "the boss" wanted the server deleted.

The documents allege that Mr de Oliveira later met with the employee in a small IT room, told him their conversation should remain private, then pressured the man into obliging his request after the employee told Mr de Oliveira that he did not have the authority.

The indictment sets out a scene where it is claimed Mr de Oliveira walked through bushes and foliage at the edge of Mar-a-Lago, a leisure resort that had been known as the Winter White House, to get to the IT room and meet Mr Nuata.

"What are we going to do," Mr de Oliveira allegedly asked his co-worker. A lawyer for Mr de Oliveira has declined to comment.

The updated indictment alleges that Mr Trump knowingly discussed a top-secret document with biographers visiting Mar-a-Lago to interview him.

The indictment says the document Mr Trump revealed to the biographers contained possible plans to attack "Country A", which CNN and other outlets identified as Iran.
source: bbc

1 Comments

  1. Mr Trump has now been charged with one count of wilful retention of defence information and two of obstruction.

    ReplyDelete
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