Trump faces more charges over Mar-a-Lago secret documents case

Washington: Donald Trump faces additional charges over his handling of classified documents and has been accused of trying to delete surveillance footage at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Six weeks after he was indicted in Miami on 37 charges relating to sensitive documents taken from the White House after he left office, Trump has been hit with an additional charge of “wilful retention” of national defence information and two new obstruction charges.

The FBI searched Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago and took away boxes of classified documents, leading to an on-going investigation.Credit: AP

The additional charges form part of a “superseding indictment” that was returned by a grand jury in Florida. As part of the latest counts, a third person, Mar-a-Lago maintenance worker Carlos De Oliveira, was also charged in addition to Trump and his valet, Walt Nauta.

Nauta was indicted last month for moving boxes containing classified information and misleading investigators as they sought to retrieve them, while De Oliveira was charged today with conspiracy to obstruct justice; destroying documents; and false statements relating to a voluntary interview he gave FBI agents.

The updated allegations centre on surveillance footage at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, where he is alleged to have asked for images to be deleted after FBI and Justice Department investigators visited the resort in June 2022 to collect classified material.

According to the latest indictment, Trump and his two co-defendants requested that a club employee “delete security camera footage” in order to “prevent the footage from being provided to a federal grand jury”.

In one instance, when an employee told De Oliveira that he didn’t believe he could delete footage, De Oliveira insisted the “boss” wanted it done, asking, “What are we going to do?”

The former president is also accused of retaining a classified document detailing a military plan of attack on Iran, which he showed to a writer, publisher and two staff members at his Bedminster Golf Club in New Jersey in July 2021.

Trump’s campaign, however, continues to maintain its innocence, with a spokesman saying that the latest charges were “nothing more than a continued desperate and flailing attempt” by the Biden administration “to harass President Trump and those around him” and seek to influence the 2024 presidential race.

The additional charges were an unexpected twist on a day when many political observers were waiting to see if Trump would be charged over yet another crime – this time for his role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election.

Special Counsel Jack Smith – who oversaw the classified documents case – has also been investigating Trump’s role in trying to block the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory during the January 6 attack on the US Capitol building in 2021.

With the new charges, Trump – who is currently the Republican frontrunner for his party’s presidential nomination – now faces 40 criminal counts in the classified documents case.

Last Friday, the federal judge presiding over it set May 20 as the trial date, although this is likely to be delayed given the latest developments.

But this is hardly the end of Trump’s legal woes. He is also facing a civil state trial over fraud accusations in October, brought on by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Another trial to determine whether he defamed writer E. Jean Carroll (who Trump was recently found to have sexually abused) is set to open on January 15 – the same day as the Iowa caucuses begin.

And also next year, he is expected to stand trial in Manhattan over alleged hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels.

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