In a recent development in the Mar-a-Lago documents case, former US President Donald Trump is facing additional charges, as revealed in court documents.
The justice department has brought forth new accusations against Mr. Trump, including one count of wilful retention of defense information and two counts of obstruction.
Furthermore, Carlos de Oliveira, a staff member at Mar-a-Lago, has also been indicted in connection with the case.
Both Mr. Trump and his aide, Walt Nauta, have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Mr. Nauta, who has also entered a not guilty plea, is facing two additional counts of obstruction.
The newly disclosed court documents shed light on alleged collusion between Mr. Nauta and Mr. de Oliveira, the property manager at Mar-a-Lago, aimed at obstructing the justice department’s investigation.
According to the documents, Mr. Nauta and Mr. de Oliveira allegedly conspired to delete surveillance footage from security cameras after the Department of Justice issued a subpoena requesting footage from the basement, where confidential documents were believed to be kept.
In the court filings, it is claimed that Mr. de Oliveira sent a text message to another employee, who served as the director of information technology, instructing them to delete the server on orders from “the boss.”
The documents further allege that Mr. de Oliveira later met with the employee in a secluded room and urged them to comply with his request, despite the employee expressing his lack of authority to do so.
During the meeting, Mr. de Oliveira purportedly asked his co-worker, “What are we going to do?” However, a lawyer representing Mr. de Oliveira has chosen not to provide any comments on the matter.
