Carlos De Oliveira became the third person charged with federal charges on Thursday in connection with former President Donald Trump’s alleged efforts to conceal confidential information after leaving office and obstruct an investigation. Carlos De Oliveira is named in the indictment as the property manager at Mar-a-Lago and a former valet.
The accusations were laid in a superseding indictment that also included three additional charges against Trump, in addition to the 37 already laid against him in the case, and two new counts against his adviser Walt Nauta, who was previously charged with six felonies. In the lawsuit, both Trump and Nauta have entered not-guilty pleas.
What are the allegations against Carlos De Oliveira?
According to the indictment, Carlos De Oliveira assisted Trump in moving boxes holding sensitive information and asked an employee to erase Mar-a-Lago security camera footage to prevent it from being turned over to a federal grand jury.
Trump’s present residence, Mar-a-Lago, is a private club in Palm Beach, Florida, owned by Trump’s company.
According to the indictment, on June 24, 2022, an attorney for Trump’s corporation received a grand jury subpoena ordering the submission of surveillance records, videos, and photographs. Prosecutors believe that Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira proceeded to the security guard booth, where surveillance video is broadcast on monitors, and “walked with a flashlight through a tunnel” to a storage room, pointing to surveillance cameras.
Days later, on June 27, according to the indictment, Carlos De Oliveira led another Trump employee to a small area known as a “audio closet,” and asked the employee how long the server kept security footage. The employee estimated it to be roughly 45 days.
The employee, who numerous sources tell CBS News is Mar-a-Lago I.T., is not named in the indictment. Yuscil Taveras is a department employee.
According to the accusation, Carlos De Oliveira allegedly told Taveras that “‘the boss’ wanted the server deleted.” According to the indictment, Taveras stated that he would not know how to do so and that he did not believe he had the authority to do so.
According to the lawsuit, federal investigators met with De Oliveira at his residence on Jan. 13 and questioned him about the location and transit of the boxes housed at Mar-a-Lago.
According to the indictment, Carlos De Oliveira allegedly told the FBI at the time that he was not part of a crew that assisted in unloading and moving boxes at the end of Trump’s administration.
In response to a query about whether he was aware that boxes were being transferred, he stated that he “never saw anything,” according to the indictment.
During the voluntary interview, Carlos De Oliveira allegedly told the FBI that he didn’t know where objects would have been put when Trump returned to Mar-a-Lago.
In the indictment, prosecutors argue that De Oliveira’s assertions “were false, as De Oliveira knew, because De Oliveira had personally observed and helped move Trump’s boxes when they arrived at” Mar-a-Lago in January 2021.