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Former President Donald Trump is facing additional federal charges in the Mar-a-Lago classified-documents case, according to court documents filed Thursday.
The new charges, which include two counts of obstructing justice, stem from federal prosecutors' accusations that the former president last summer attempted to delete security footage at his home in Palm Beach, Florida, amid the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation.
Prosecutors are also charging Trump with one count of willfully retaining a top-secret document based off an audiotape of the former president speaking with guests at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, in July 2021. In the recorded conversation, which was previously included in the indictment, Trump is discussing a Pentagon document about a possible attack on Iran that he described as "highly confidential" and "secret."
A third defendant was also added to the indictment alongside Trump and his personal aide, Walt Nauta. Carlos De Oliveira, who according to court documents was hired as a property manager at Trump's estate in January 2022, is facing charges tied to helping Nauta move classified documents around Mar-a-Lago after the DOJ issued its first subpoena for Trump to return all sensitive materials that were in his possession. De Oliveira is facing four counts, including conspiring to obstruct justice and making false statements to federal prosecutors.
The third defendant also played a role in Trump's alleged attempt to delete security camera footage from Mar-a-Lago. Court documents state that De Oliveira told a Trump employee in June 2022 that "the boss" wanted all security servers deleted.
Thursday's superseding indictment adds to the 37 federal counts the former president was already facing in the DOJ's investigation into his handling of classified documents since leaving the White House in January 2021. Trump previously pleaded not guilty to all charges.
When reached for comment, the former president's campaign directed Newsweek to a statement Thursday that said the additional charges were "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."
Former DOJ Special Counsel Ryan Goodman said that evidence of Trump attempting to destroy security film "would bolster the entire classified documents case."
"Shows consciousness of guilt for all the charged crimes under Espionage Act, and as principal in conspiracy," Goodman tweeted.
CNN legal analyst Elie Honig noted during an appearance on the network's Situation Room Thursday that the charges stemming from Trump's recorded conversation in Bedminster add "an important and dangerous moment" in the DOJ's case.
"Now we know the document Donald Trump was showing these people with zero security clearance was an actual highly classified document that had to do with war plans, and we know DOJ has that document," Honig said.
"And why this is so important is because this is the one incident in the whole indictment where Donald Trump most flagrantly disseminates the information," he continued. "Where it's not just sitting in boxes in his bathroom or on the stage at Mar-a-Lago, which is bad, which is potentially criminal, but it's the one most flagrant incident where he's taking that information and giving it out to somebody."
Update 07/27/23, 8:30 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional information and background.
About the writer
Kaitlin Lewis is a Newsweek reporter on the Night Team based in Boston, Massachusetts. Her focus is reporting on national ... Read more