Trump indictment: Shush emojis and orders from the boss - charges in full
- Published
Federal prosecutors have widened their criminal investigation into Donald Trump over his handling of government documents after he left the White House. So what do the new charges show?
In a revised indictment, prosecutors allege two employees of the former president - Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira - tried to delete security video at the heart of the Mar-a-Lago documents case.
Mr Trump and Mr Nauta have pleaded not guilty to earlier charges in the probe. Mr de Oliveira - whose lawyer had no comment - has now also been indicted and will soon enter a plea.
The new allegations detail a series of interactions between Mr Nauta, a personal aide, and Mr de Oliveira, the property manager, after the justice department issued a subpoena for Mar-a-Lago security videos.
The subpoena, a request for evidence, specifically mentioned footage taken outside a storage room at the resort in Palm Beach, Florida, where the justice department said classified documents were held.
The subpoena was first received on 22 June 2022, after which Mr Trump allegedly called Mr de Oliveira and told Mr Nauta that he wanted to see him.
Mr Nauta, who had been scheduled to go with Mr Trump to Illinois on 25 June, is alleged to have instead made plans to go to Palm Beach.
He told one co-worker the trip was for a family emergency and used "shushing" emojis, the court document claims.
Later that day, Mr Nauta allegedly spoke by phone with Mr de Oliveira, who told a Mar-a-Lago information technology employee that Mr Nauta was "coming down tomorrow" and "needs you for something".
The employee - who is not named or charged in the indictment but has been identified by media reports as IT director Yuscil Taveras - later confirmed his availability to Mr Nauta.
Ahead of Mr Nauta's arrival, Mr de Oliveira is said to have asked a Mar-a-Lago valet not to tell anyone about the visit because Mr Nauta wanted it to be a secret.
Prosecutors claim that, when Mr Nauta and Mr de Oliveira met that evening, they walked around with a torch and pointed at surveillance cameras in a tunnel near the storage room.
On the morning of 27 June, Mr de Oliveira took Mr Taveras to a small room known as an "audio closet" near the club's White and Gold Ballroom, seen above.
Inside the room, he allegedly began by saying their conversation should remain between the two of them and proceeded to ask how long videos were stored on the Mar-a-Lago server.
Mr de Oliveira then twice said that "the boss" wanted the server deleted, to which Mr Taveras replied that he neither knew how to do it, nor believed he had the rights to do it, the indictment claims.
It further alleges Mr de Oliveira spoke on the phone with Mr Nauta after the conversation in the closet and "walked through the bushes" to meet him on a property adjacent to the resort.
He is also said to have received a three-and-a-half minute call from Mr Trump that evening.
That was the end of their documented interactions, until two weeks after the FBI discovered more than 100 classified documents.
A couple of weeks after the news broke, Mr Nauta allegedly called the club valet Mr de Oliveira had previously spoken with and said words to the effect of "someone just wants to make sure Carlos is good".
The valet is said to have replied that Mr de Oliveira was loyal and would not do anything to affect his relationship with Mr Trump.
Later that day, allegedly at Mr Nauta's request, Mr Trump called Mr de Oliveira and said he would get him an attorney.
Related topics
- Published28 July 2023
- Published28 August