2023-07-28 01:03:44
Former US President Donald Trump has been charged with other charges in the affair of taking away secret government documents. This emerges from a court document published on Thursday. In addition to Trump and his assistant Walt Nauta, a third defendant was included in the case – apparently Carlos De Oliveira, the manager of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
According to the New York Times, the revised indictment added three serious allegations: first, Trump’s attempt to destroy or conceal evidence; second, trying to trick someone else into doing it; and thirdly, a new charge was added under the Espionage Act.
The latter refers to an encounter between Trump and two men at his golf club, during which he is said to have boasted about a top-secret and “sensitive” document detailing a plan to attack another country, the newspaper writes. There is an audio recording of this conversation, on which you can even hear the rustling of the paper and Trump’s statements. He claims that no such document existed.
Trump is said to have asked his employee Carlos De Oliveira to delete surveillance camera footage from the Mar-a-Lago property, where the boxes with secret documents were found. This should hamper the investigative work. According to the indictment, De Oliveira helped hide the sensitive documents from officials.
Trump was first charged in the case in June because he kept top-secret government documents in the property and did not return them when requested. In early August 2022, the federal police FBI searched Trump’s villa and confiscated several sets of documents classified as top secret. The Republican pleaded not guilty at a court hearing in Miami in June.
The trial is scheduled to start on May 20, 2024. The start of the process thus falls in the middle of the election campaign for the next presidential election in early November 2024. Trump wants to run again. He is confronted with several court cases in the election year. One case is related to hush money payments to a porn star. The other covers Trump’s role in the storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Shortly before the new charges in the document affair became known, Trump’s lawyers met with special counsel Jack Smith’s team. Trump wrote on the platform he co-founded, Truth Social, his lawyers had a “productive meeting” with Justice Department officials. He thus confirmed corresponding media reports about such a meeting.
Trump wrote that his lawyers emphasized during the call that he was not guilty and that charges against him would “only further destroy” the country.
Trump had made it clear that he expected charges to be filed soon
Trump anticipates an upcoming third indictment related to the 2020 presidential election and the storming of the Capitol. In the weeks after the 2020 election, he had caused a stir with false claims that massive voter fraud had stolen his victory.
A few days ago, Trump announced that he had been formally informed by letter that he was the target of the investigation. He made it clear that he therefore expects to be arrested and charged soon.
The responsible jury panel, which ultimately has to decide on a possible indictment in the case, met again on Thursday in Washington for deliberations. However, it is currently completely unclear when a decision by this grand jury can be expected.
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