The property manager of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate made his first court appearance on Monday on charges in the classified documents case against the former president but did not enter a plea because he has not found a Florida-based attorney to represent him. Carlos De Oliveira is accused of scheming with Trump to try to delete security footage sought by investigators probing the former president's hoarding of classified documents at his Palm Beach, Florida, club. De Oliveira was added last week to the indictment with Trump and the ex-president's valet, Walt Nauta, and faces charges including conspiracy to obstruct justice and lying to investigators.
A magistrate judge in Miami's federal court read De Oliveira the charges against him and ordered him to turn over his passport and sign an agreement to pay $100,000 if he doesn't appear in court, the AP reports. The judge scheduled his arraignment for Aug. 10 in Fort Pierce. Trump, who pleaded not guilty in June, has denied any wrongdoing. He posted on his Truth Social platform last week that the Mar-a-Lago security tapes were voluntarily handed over to investigators and that he was told the tapes were not "deleted in any way, shape or form." Prosecutors have not alleged that security footage was actually deleted or kept from investigators. Nauta has also pleaded not guilty.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon had previously scheduled the trial of Trump and Nauta to begin in May, and it's unclear whether the addition of De Oliveira to the case may impact the case's timeline. Days after the Justice Department sent a subpoena for video footage at Mar-a-Lago to the Trump Organization in June 2022, prosecutors say, De Oliveira asked an information technology staffer how long the server retained footage and told the employee "the boss" wanted it deleted. When the employee said he didn't believe he was able to do that, De Oliveira insisted the "boss" wanted it done, asking, "What are we going to do?" Prosecutors allege that De Oliveira later lied in interviews with investigators, falsely claiming that he hadn't even seen boxes moved into Mar-a-Lago after Trump left the White House.
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