Carlos De Oliveira (L), personal aide to former US President Donald Trump, arrives on the James L. King Federal Courthouse in Miami, Florida, on July 31, 2023.
Chandan Khanna | AFP | Getty Images
Carlos De Oliveira, the most recent co-defendant within the federal criminal case over former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents, finally entered a not guilty plea on Tuesday after failing to achieve this twice before.
De Oliveira pleaded not guilty to 4 criminal counts related to an alleged try to delete surveillance footage from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club.
De Oliveira, a property manager at Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida, resort, was added to the case in a superseding indictment filed late last month.
The arraignment took place in U.S. District Court in Fort Pierce, Florida, before a federal magistrate judge. It had been delayed on two prior occasions resulting from issues securing local counsel.
“Good luck,” Magistrate Judge Shaniek Maynard told De Oliveira in a transient hearing that began at 10 a.m. ET.
The superseding indictment also charged Trump with three recent counts on top of the 37 he already faces within the case, which center on his retention of classified records after leaving the White House in 2021.
Walt Nauta, Trump’s valet and co-defendant in the unique indictment filed by special counsel Jack Smith, also received additional charges within the superseding indictment.
Nauta and De Oliveira had each appeared in court last week to enter pleas on the newest batch of charges. Nauta successfully pleaded not guilty in that hearing, but De Oliveira’s arraignment was postponed until Tuesday morning because his local attorney, Larry Murrell, had not presented all of the obligatory court filings within the case.
Trump had already pleaded not guilty to the brand new charges and waived his appearance in last week’s hearing.
The brand new counts charge all three defendants with plotting to delete security footage that had been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in June 2022, in response to the indictment. Trump also received a recent count of retaining a classified document, which he had allegedly shown to multiple people without security clearances at his Latest Jersey golf club after he was not president. News outlets have published an audio tape of that meeting.
Trump’s charges in Florida are one in all 4 energetic criminal cases against him as he seeks the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. He was most recently indicted Monday night in Georgia, on charges related to his efforts to overturn his loss to President Joe Biden within the state’s 2020 election.
