MIAMI, Florida – The handyman at Mar-a-Lago, former President Donald Trump’s Florida mansion and resort, indicted in a new indictment along with the former president for allegedly mishandling classified government documents after the former president He left office, his first court appearance was scheduled for Monday.
Carlos De Oliveira, 56, will appear before a trial judge Monday in Miami to enter his guilty plea after being named last week as a third co-defendant in a supersede or amended indictment. Prosecutors accuse de Oliveira of trying to delete surveillance footage at the former president’s Palm Beach resort after the Justice Department tried to obtain it.
As of Sunday night De Oliveira was still a lawyer in Florida.
“We are working to find a local attorney,” John Irving, De Oliveira’s attorney, told NBC News. But without an attorney who can practice in Florida, Irving said he didn’t think the judge would proceed with de Oliveira’s arraignment. Irving said he would depend on the judge, raising the possibility of delays in the case.
De Oliveira has been summoned to appear before federal judge Edwin Torres, who presided over the arraignment of Walt Nauta, Trump’s personal aide who is also charged in the classified documents case. Nauta’s not guilty plea was postponed twice due to difficulties in retaining a local lawyer.
De Oliveira, a former maintenance worker who had risen through the ranks at Mar-a-Lago for more than a decade, was a little-known helper at the resort before he was named a co-conspirator with Trump and Nauta in special counsel Jack Smith’s update. . indictment opened last Thursday. When asked about de Oliveira after the federal indictment was unsealed Thursday, a person close to Trump responded: “Who the hell is that?”
Filed in the Southern District of Florida, the updated indictment brings new charges against Trump, Nauta and, now, De Oliveira, who are accused of conspiring to thwart efforts by federal investigators to recover classified documents from Trump’s post-presidency. .
Photos included in his federal criminal indictments show the former president’s mishandling of classified documents at his home in Palm Beach, Mar-a-Lago.
According to court documents, De Oliveira told another employee at Trump’s Palm Beach resort that “the boss” wanted the surveillance footage removed, a conversation that took place after Trump’s lawyers received a subpoena to serve the surveillance footage. recordings.
De Oliveira is also charged with making false statements to prosecutors, including claiming he “never saw anything” when asked if he was involved in moving boxes of classified materials.
Trump aides appear to express concern about de Oliveira’s loyalty to the former president. Speaking to another employee, Nauta “said words to the effect of ‘someone just wants to make sure Carlos is good,'” according to the indictment. In a message using the Signal app to Nauta and another Trump aide, described as a representative of his political action committee, the employee responds that De Oliveira is “loyal.”
That same day, “Trump called de Oliveira and told de Oliveira that he would get him a lawyer,” the indictment says.
This article was originally written in English for NBC News. To see more from NBC News, click here.
