Trump Co-Defendant Could Be the 'Final Nail' in His Coffin: Ex-Prosecutor

Former President Donald Trump's new co-defendant in the classified-documents case may be delivering the "final nail" in the ex-president's coffin, according to ex-U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance.

During an MSNBC interview with former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Thursday, Vance said that the criminal charges filed against Mar-a-Lago maintenance worker Carlos De Oliveira could spell disaster for Trump, as De Oliveira would have "no choice" but to "flip" on the ex-president and cooperate with Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation.

In a superseding indictment handed down hours earlier, De Oliveira was charged with four counts, which included obstruction of justice; making false statements to federal prosecutors; and concealing, mutilating or destroying materials. Three additional charges were also brought against Trump, who pleaded not guilty to all 37 felony counts in the original indictment last month.

Trump, De Oliveira and fellow co-defendant Walt Nauta are accused of attempting to destroy potentially incriminating Mar-a-Lago video surveillance footage. De Oliveira is also accused of emptying a swimming pool to intentionally flood an area used to house security video logs at the club. Vance predicted that the legal pressure prosecutors placed on De Oliveira would force him to turn against the former president.

"[De Oliveira] is a defendant who has almost no choice but to flip," Vance said. "He's looking at charges that have 20-year maximums ... He's looking at spending a big chunk of time in prison if he goes forward ... They have him dead to center if he does not cooperate."

Vance said that prosecutors had De Oliveira in a tight spot because the indictment makes it clear that he lied to prosecutors "in a bald-faced manner" about the timeline of classified materials arriving to Mar-a-Lago from Washington, D.C.

She added that De Oliveira would be a valuable witness against the former president because his testimony could help prove that Trump wanted "to figure out if the videos [could] be erased."

"What do [prosecutors] get if he does cooperate? He is putting Trump front and center in this scheme to obstruct," Vance said. "If they can obtain De Oliveira's cooperation, that's probably the final nail in the coffin on this one."

Reached for comment, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung told Newsweek that "Joyce Vance is a moron and loses sleep because she has Trump Derangement Syndrome."

Cheung also pointed to a Trump campaign statement that calls the superseding indictment "nothing more than a continued desperate and flailing attempt by the Biden Crime Family and their Department of Justice to harass President Trump and those around him."

"Deranged Jack Smith knows that they have no case and is casting about for any way to salvage their illegal witch hunt and to get someone other than Donald Trump to run against Crooked Joe Biden," the statement continues.

Harry Litman, also a former U.S. attorney, appeared on the same program as Vance and a short time earlier said that De Oliveira "was just tailor-made to be a cooperating witness" because "he has everything to lose"

Litman said that prosecutors had likely approached De Oliveira with their evidence and told him they would bring charges if he did not cooperate. He suggested that the fact charges were filed meant that De Oliveira said "no" and was now a prime candidate to "flip."

"He is someone who it's hard to understand why he wouldn't be cooperating against both Nauta and Trump," Litman said.