Aug. 23 (UPI) — Two of former President Donald Trump’s aides gave false testimony to a grand jury as part of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s criminal investigation into the alleged mishandling of U.S. secrets, according to court papers filed by prosecutors this week.
According to the filing, Yuscil Taveras, an IT professional who has not been charged in the case, and Carlos De Oliveira, the Mar-a-Lago property manager indicted for obstruction alongside Trump, retracted sworn testimony in which they initially denied efforts to delete security camera footage at Trump’s Florida estate, at which the FBI seized a trove of classified documents in August 2022.
Tuesday’s filing sheds new light on how prosecutors reached the decision to file a superseding federal indictment in July, charging Trump, De Oliveira and Trump’s longtime confidant, Walt Nauta, with unlawful retention of government documents and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Trump pleaded not guilty in June to 37 federal charges alleging he willfully mishandled classified documents, and he faces three additional counts under the superseding indictment, which alleges De Oliveira helped Nauta relocate 30 boxes of materials into a storage unit at Trump’s behest “to conceal information from the FBI and grand jury.”
De Oliveira was referenced, but not named, in the original indictment, but was added as a third co-defendant in the case as one of those who loaded boxes of the documents onto a plane that flew Trump and his family to Bedminster, N.J. in summer 2021.
In the latest filing, Taveras is identified as “Trump Employee 4” — who, along with De Oliveira, denied any role in moving the cache of materials.
Taveras testified before the grand jury in March, with federal prosecutors pressing him about the security footage at Trump’s Palm Beach mansion, to which Taveras “repeatedly denied or claimed not to recall any contacts or conversations about the security footage at Mar-a-Lago,” court papers allege.
Months later, the special counsel sent Taveras a target letter, putting him on notice that he was being investigated for potentially lying to the grand jury.
In July, Taveras “retracted his prior false testimony and provided information that implicated Nauta, De Oliveira, and Trump in efforts to delete security camera footage,” prosecutors said in Tuesday’s court filing.
The indictment alleges De Oliveira approached a co-worker at Mar-a-Lago and asked about the property’s security footage, saying “the boss” wanted the server deleted and asked how long the videos remain on file.
The conversation took place soon after the government sent a subpoena to Trump’s legal team for the security footage, prosecutors revealed previously.
The security footage has since been subpoenaed as investigators were continuing to follow the paper trail of classified materials that Trump took with him after leaving office in 2021.
In July, Taveras fired his attorney Stanley Woodward, who is representing Nauta and several other witnesses in the case, and he has since hired a public defender in Washington to represent him.
Prosecutors indicated that Taveras would likely turn state’s evidence against Trump and the other co-defendants, and the special counsel has asked Florida Judge Aileen Cannon to conduct an inquiry to resolve any potential conflicts between Woodward, Taveras and Nauta.
Last week, Woodward said he would accept the court’s judgment on the matter as part of a closed hearing, but that he didn’t expect any conflicts of interest to emerge over his representation of both men.
And in a notable filing of his own, Woodward asked Cannon to bar Taveras from testifying as a government witness due to jurisdictional constraints, arguing that the amended testimony was given to a grand jury in Washington, while the case was being prosecuted in Florida.
“The exercise of this Court’s supervisory power is warranted to exclude Trump Employee 4’s testimony as a remedy for the improper use of out-of-district proceedings or, at the least, to allow discovery with regard to this matter. Such relief would comport with measures taken in similar instances of perceived or potential grand jury abuse,” Woodward wrote.
On Tuesday, prosecutors argued that Taveras’ testimony was valid because the investigation revealed he had committed perjury in Washington.
Previously, Woodward said he wasn’t aware that Taveras had lied to the grand jury.
Trump, who is the first president in history to be indicted on federal criminal charges, continues to deny any wrongdoing, saying previously that he had the power as president to “automatically” declassify the secret papers.
Separately, the special counsel has also brought charges against Trump over his failed efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
Trump also is under indictment in Georgia on 13 counts ranging from violating the state’s racketeering act to conspiring to file false documents in the election, and has until noon on Friday to voluntarily surrender or face arrest.
In another case, Trump is set to go on trial in March to face 34 felony charges related to hush-money payments to former adult film star Stormy Daniels, with whom he allegedly had a sexual encounter that threatened to upend his 2016 campaign.
