Donald Trump told the property manager at his Mar-a-Lago resort to delete security camera footage in a bid to thwart federal investigators, prosecutors claimed in a superseding indictment that hits the former president with additional charges.
The 60-page filing submitted Thursday by prosecutors working for special counsel Jack Smith accuses Trump of three additional counts — two of which could earn him an additional 40 years in prison if convicted.
The property manager, Carlos De Oliveira, was also charged in the case, making him the third defendant alongside Trump and his valet Walt Nauta — who were both charged in an initial indictment on June 8 with conspiring to hide national security documents at the 77-year-old’s Palm Beach, Fla., home.
Thursday’s indictment identifies De Oliveria as the man who allegedly helped Nauta move approximately 30 boxes of classified documents into a storage room in Mar-a-Lago’s basement on June 2, 2022.
The week before, Nauta allegedly moved about 64 boxes “at Trump’s direction” out of the storage room and into the president’s estate in preparation for a search by Trump’s attorney, who was not privy to the scheme, the indictment claims.
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On June 3, De Oliveria allegedly helped transport the boxes of classified documents to Trump’s Bedminster, NJ, residence while FBI agents combed the Palm Beach mansion.
After noticing surveillance cameras on the property — including near the storage room — federal agents sent Trump’s attorneys a draft grand jury subpoena requiring they hand over footage, prosecutors say.
Instead, Trump called De Oliveria on the night of June 24 and allegedly ordered him to wipe the cameras.
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The next day, Nauta was directed to ditch his plans to travel with Trump to Illinois and make arrangements to head to Palm Beach, the documents state.
When the valet arrived at Mar-a-Lago, he met with De Oliveira and the two men scoped out the locations of the cameras. Two days later, prosecutors say, De Oliveira pulled an IT worker aside for a private conversation, asking how long security footage was kept on a server.
After the IT worker said the storage time was believed to be 45 days, De Oliveira allegedly said “the boss” wanted the server deleted. When the worker balked and claimed only a security supervisor could do that, the indictment says, De Olivera repeated that “the boss” had made the request and asked the employee: “What are we going to do?”
After the exchange with the IT worker, De Oliveira met twice with Nauta just off Mar-a-Lago’s property, returning to the resort’s IT office in between. Later on June 27, 2022, the filing says, Trump called the property manager and the two men spoke for three-and-a-half minutes.
It is unclear how much footage, or if any footage, was deleted from the server. In a filing last month, prosecutors revealed they had obtained both “complete copies of closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage” and “‘key’ excerpts” from the cameras.
On Aug. 26, after the FBI had searched Mar-a-Lago, prosecutors say, Trump called De Oliveira and promised to arrange an attorney.