Former President Donald Trump and his aide, Walt Nauta, are facing additional charges in connection with Special Counsel Jack Smith's case concerning 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 worker from the Trump Organization and the 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. These latest charges stem from events that took place in late June 2022.

The Justice Department, on June 22, discovered security footage near the storage room where the classified information was found. In response, they sent Trump's lawyers a draft grand jury subpoena requesting security footage from cameras near the storage room at Mar-a-Lago. The subpoena sought any surveillance records, videos, images, photographs, and CCTV from internal cameras, including footage covering the period from January 10 to June 24, 2022. The following day, June 23, an indictment reveals that Trump and De Oliveira had a 24-minute phone conversation.

On June 24, the Justice Department sent Trump's legal team the final grand jury subpoena for the requested surveillance records. Coincidentally, on the same day, Nauta was informed by a coworker that Trump wanted to see him. As a result, Nauta changed his travel plans and headed to Palm Beach, Florida, instead of meeting with Trump in Illinois as originally scheduled. Nauta provided inconsistent reasons for the change in plans, initially texting a Secret Service agent that he had to check on a family member in Florida, but then texting the same agent the following morning claiming he was in Florida for work.

The indictment also reveals that 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 primarily revolved around their work availability. Additionally, on June 25, De Oliveira spoke with an unnamed Mar-a-Lago valet attendant, informing them that Nauta would be arriving 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. The pair proceeded to the security booth, where surveillance video is displayed on monitors. Unfortunately, the indictment does not provide further information about their activities at the security booth.

These recent developments are significant as they suggest 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, raises the possibility that individuals within Trump's organization may have been involved in efforts to delete security footage. Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation continues, and these new charges further compound the legal challenges faced by former President Trump and his associates.