Mar-a-Lago head of maintenance Carlos De Oliveira arrived at federal court in Miami Monday to face conspiracy charges related to the classified documents probe of former President Donald Trump.
He walked into federal court for a hearing Monday morning, casting a stark expression days after his name appeared in a superseding indictment that accused him, Trump, and Trump aide Walt Nauta in conspiring to delete server footage of boxes of material at the private Florida club.
Little is known about the aide, 56, although a neighbor said he is ‘not a crook.’
He faces four counts in the latest criminal indictment, which has grown to 40 counts, including lying to investigators and ‘corruptly altering, destroying, mutilating, or concealing a document, record or other object,’ along with the conspiracy charge.
At Monday’s hearing, a magistrate judge will inform him of his rights, and he is expected to make a plea of not guilty.
He has worked at the club for a decade, and got promoted last year.
Carlos De Oliveira, personal aide to former US President Donald Trump and the head of maintenance at Mar-a-Lago, arrived at federal court in Miami. He is charged in conspiracy to obstruct a classified documents probe
A superseding indictment prosecutors filed last week accused him of conspiring to delete security footage of boxes of documents at Mar-a-Lago after a grand jury subpoena sought their return.
The indictment quotes him communicating with another club employee about security footage at Mar-a-Lago and telling him that ‘the boss’ wants it deleted.
His arrival at court came as Yuscil Taveras – the head of IT at Mar-a-Lago referenced in the indictment as receiving the request – has himself received a ‘target’ letter, according to the new report.
The communication from federal prosecutors came after former President Donald Trump was indicted in June, CNN reported.
Trump himself received such a letter this month. It can signal a likelihood that someone is about to get charged in an investigation.
It was not known whether Taveras is cooperating with prosecutors. But the superseding indictment Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office filed last week refers to Mar-a-Lago’s head of IT, ‘Employee 4,’ as questioning whether he had ‘the right’ to wipe security servers when presented the idea.
Yuscil Taveras, the head of IT at Mar-a-Lago, received a ‘target’ letter from prosecutors, but has not been charged
The indictment quotes De Oliveira telling an employee ‘the boss’ wants a server wiped, during a period after a grand jury subpoena
Prosecutors appear to have obtained cell phone text information on various figures at the club, and quote indicted maintenance head Carlos De Oliveira making the request.
The indictment has De Oliveira questioning Employee 4 inside an audio closet at the club, and saying that ‘the boss’ wanted the server ‘deleted’ – in a likely reference to Trump, who had personal phone calls with De Oliveira.
‘Trump Employee 4 responded that he would not know how to do that, and that he did not believe that he would have the rights to do that,’ according to the indictment.
De Oliveira is accused along with former Trump aide and former White House valet Walt Nauta of conspiring to obstruct the FBI and a grand jury investigation probing the willful withholding of classified information.
Trump and Nauta have pleaded not guilty. De Oliveira is expected in court Monday. Trump, who continues to dominate Republican presidential polls, has called all the probes against him a witch hunt.
The head of maintenance at the club, Carlos De Oliveira, is charged along with Trump and aide Waltine Nauta in a superseding indictment
Ty Cobb, who represented Trump when he was in the White House, said he expected Trump himself to be indicted in a separate case related to Trump’s election overturn effort this week.
He said prosecutors were like artists, and the latest indictment was like a ‘Michelangelo.’
‘The new charges are very significant,’ he told NPR, and wouldn’t take long to establish in court.
Trump’s lawyers ‘don’t have any defense to it,’ since much of the information is on tape.
‘The simple reality is he has to win in order to avoid going to jail,’ said Cobb.
