|
By CURT ANDERSON and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER
FORT PIERCE, Fla. — Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to scheming with Donald Trump to try to delete security footage sought by investigators probing the former president’s hoarding of classified documents.
An attorney for De Oliveira entered the plea on his behalf during a brief hearing in the Fort Pierce, Florida, federal court, where Trump is charged with illegally holding onto top-secret records at his Palm Beach club and thwarting government efforts to retrieve them.
It’s the third court appearance for De Oliveira, who twice before had his arraignment postponed because he hadn’t yet finalized a Florida-based attorney, which is required under court rules.
De Oliveira spoke only to answer the magistrate judge’s questions, such as whether he understood the charges against him. De Oliveira and his new attorney, Donnie Murrell of West Palm Beach, walked out of the courthouse without speaking to reporters.
De Oliveira’s arraignment comes a day after Trump was charged in a fourth criminal case. Monday night Trump and 18 allies were indicted in a case out of Fulton County, Georgia, over alleged efforts by him and his supporters to illegally meddle in the 2020 election in that state.
In the Mar-a-Lago case, Trump and his valet, Walt Nauta, were originally charged in June in one of two cases brought by special counsel Jack Smith. Smith has also charged Republican Trump in Washington with illegally conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
An updated indicted unsealed late last month brought more charges against Trump and Nauta, and added De Oliveira to the Florida case. Trump is facing dozens of felony counts in the classified documents case, and Smith’s new indictment included additional counts of obstruction and willful retention of national defense information.
Trump and Nauta have also pleaded not guilty. The former president…
Read the full article here