The case against mishandling of documents against former President Donald Trump has been called a “witch hunt.” Since other high government officials’ possession of documents has not been looked into, Trump has a point when he maintains that the 37 counts against him are politically motivated.
In July, a superseded indictment was unsealed revealing three additional felony offenses as part of the classified documents on top of the 37 that Trump has already pleaded not guilty to.
MSNBC reported that the new court filings from Smith’s office posted on Monday also revealed that federal prosecutors have now “disclosed all unclassified memorialization of witness interviews finalized by today’s date and all grand jury transcript” in the government’s possession.
At least two-dozen people, including Mar-a-Lago restaurant workers and at least one housekeeper, were previously reported to have testified to a federal grand jury as part of the classified documents case.
Now the identities of two previously unnamed Mar-a-Lago workers are revealed to Trump and his attorneys.
Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office said that included in the new evidence it has, there is additional CCTV footage from Mar-a-Lago Club. This had been obtained between May 9 and May 12, 2023, ahead of the upcoming trial. Smith has been well known to have a vendetta against the former President.
Specifically, it is alleged that Mar-a-Lago employee Carlos De Oliveira was called on to delete security-camera footage taken at the Florida resort, which had been sought by federal prosecutors.
Newsweek reports:
In the new unsealed indictment, a Mar-a-Lago worker only referred to as “employee 3” is alleged to have messaged Nauta on July 24, 2022—the same day that an attorney for Trump spoke with the former president regarding the subpoena for security-camera footage at Mar-a-Lago.
At 3:44 p.m., Nauta received a text message from Employee 3 saying that Trump wanted to see Nauta. Under two hours later, Nauta, who was scheduled to go with Trump to Illinois the following day, began to make arrangements to go to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, instead, according to federal prosecutors.
Prior to Nauta’s trip, De Oliveira told a valet at Mar-a-Lago, Employee 5, that Nauta was on his way. De Oliveira allegedly asked Employee 5 not to tell anyone that Nauta was coming down as the trip was meant to be a secret. De Oliveira also told Employee 5 that Nauta wanted De Oliveira to talk to Trump Employee 4—believed to be IT worker Yuscil Taveras— to see how long camera footage was stored at the Florida resort.
Employee 5 is also said to have assured Nauta that De Oliveira, who has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements to the FBI over whether he helped Nauta move boxes of classified documents around Mar-a-Lago, will not be an issue for Trump in the classified documents case.
“Just over two weeks after the FBI discovered classified documents in the Storage Room and Trump’s office, on August 26, 2022, Nauta called Trump Employee 5 and said words to the effect of, ‘someone just wants to make sure Carlos is good,’” the superseded indictment said.
“In response, Trump Employee 5 told Nauta that De Oliveira was loyal and that De Oliveira would not do anything to affect his relationship with Trump.”
The identities of the two Mar-a-Lago workers have not been made public and they have not been charged in connection to the classified documents case.
The isolated statements obtained from employees and the fact that neither employee has been charged casts a suspicious light on the evidence.
Those who are upholding Smith’s case imply that Trump’s employees are a detail he has not factored in.
Former Pentagon Special Counsel Ryan Goodman said Smith’s team was hoping to obtain key information from those underneath the radar of the former president by seeking testimony from Mar-a-Lago staff. “They might be invisible to him. But they are the eyes and ears, and they can see things,” he said.
Goodman went on to cast the employees’ remarks in a light that seems grasping in the dark. “Or they can know things might even be somewhat rumored, but then they can at least give the investigators leads, so they can tell the investigators who is present in different conversations,” Goodman told CNN’s OutFront in March.
In a series of tweets, Lisa Rubin, an attorney and legal analyst for MSNBC, has Tweeted about the case. She wrote how the Department of Justice had provided the former president’s legal team, as well co-defendant Walt Nauta’s lawyers, with additional information to view in relation to the classified documents case.
In other words, if Trump & Nauta did not know who Trump Employees 3 and 5 were before today and/or the gist of what they told Smith’s team, they do now. 3/
— Lisa Rubin (@lawofruby) July 31, 2023
Trump has repeatedly declared innocence in the matter, and his answer to the whole scenario is posted:
“The crooked Election Interference “Thugs” from the DOJ, headed by the worst Thug of them all, Deranged Jack Smith are now admitting that the Mar-a-Lago Security Tapes were NOT DELETED. These guys should be prosecuted for MISCONDUCT.”
The post Donald Trump Discovers Identities Of Mar-a-Lago Witnesses Who Testified appeared first on The Republic Brief.
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