Former President Trump and his aide, Walt Nauta, are facing additional charges in Special Counsel Jack Smith's case regarding Trump's handling of classified documents after leaving office in early 2021. The superseding indictment accuses Trump of willfully retaining national defense information and adds Carlos De Oliveira, a Trump Organization worker and head of maintenance at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, to the obstruction conspiracy charges. Prosecutors allege that De Oliveira conspired to delete security footage from Mar-a-Lago while federal officials were investigating the retention of classified documents.

The latest charges stem from events that occurred in late June 2022. On June 22, the Justice Department observed security footage near the storage room where the classified information was found and sent Trump's lawyers a draft grand jury subpoena for security footage from cameras near the storage room at Mar-a-Lago. The subpoena requested any surveillance records, videos, images, photographs, and CCTV from internal cameras, including the floor of the storage room, covering the period from January 10 to June 24, 2022.

The following day, June 23, Trump and De Oliveira had a 24-minute phone conversation, according to the indictment. On June 24, the Justice Department sent Trump's legal team the final grand jury subpoena for the requested surveillance records. That same day, Nauta was informed by a coworker that Trump wanted to see him. Shortly after, Nauta changed his travel plans to go to Palm Beach, Florida, instead of meeting with Trump in Illinois as originally planned. Nauta provided inconsistent reasons for the change in plans, texting a Secret Service agent that he had to check on a family member in Florida and then texting the same agent the following morning that he was in Florida working.

Nauta and De Oliveira were in contact with each other and an unnamed employee identified as the Director of Information Technology at Mar-a-Lago on June 24. The messages exchanged primarily focused on their work availability, as stated in the indictment. On June 25, De Oliveira spoke with an unnamed Mar-a-Lago valet attendant and informed them that Nauta would be coming down from Bedminster, New Jersey. De Oliveira asked the valet attendant to keep Nauta's visit a secret and mentioned that Nauta wanted to speak with Mar-a-Lago's director of IT to inquire about the storage duration of camera footage.

Later that evening, Nauta arrived in Palm Beach and met with De Oliveira at Mar-a-Lago. They proceeded to the security booth where surveillance video is displayed on monitors. The indictment does not provide further information about their activities at the security booth.

These developments are significant as they indicate a potential conspiracy to obstruct the investigation into the retention of classified documents. The inclusion of Carlos De Oliveira, the head of maintenance at Mar-a-Lago, suggests that individuals within Trump's organization may have been involved in efforts to delete security footage. The investigation by Special Counsel Jack Smith continues, and these new charges further add to the legal challenges faced by former President Trump and his associates.