Trump employee indicted in classified documents case appears in court

MIAMI — The property manager for former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate appeared in court Monday morning after he was indicted last week on charges related to classified documents found at the estate.

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Carlos De Oliveira faces four charges, including conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements to the FBI. He has not yet entered a plea.

De Oliveira appears in court

Update 11:05 a.m. EDT July 31: De Oliveira made his first court appearance in a federal courthouse in Miami on Monday morning, according to CNN and Reuters.

He did not enter a plea as he had yet to find a local lawyer to represent him, Reuters reported. He is set to next appear in court for his arraignment on Aug. 10.

Original report: In an indictment, authorities said that, alongside Trump aide Waltine “Walt” Nauta, De Oliveira moved dozens of boxes at Mar-a-Lago that were used to store documents and items that Trump brought with him from the White House. In June 2022, after a grand jury issued a subpoena for security cameras at Trump’s Florida estate, De Oliveira told another employee “that ‘the boss’ wanted the server deleted,” officials said.

De Oliveira later told the FBI that he didn’t know how Trump’s boxes got to Mar-a-Lago, claiming in an interview in January 2023 that he “never saw nothing,” court records show.

De Oliveira is the third person to face charges in connection with the more than 100 classified records found last year during an FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. Authorities have also charged Nauta and Trump with conspiracy to obstruct justice, making false statements, corruptly concealing a document or record and more. Trump is also facing 32 counts of willful retention of national defense information.

Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, characterizing investigations into his conduct as politically motivated attacks.

“They knowingly accuse you of a fake crime, a crime that they actually make up, you fight these charges hard, and they try to get you on ‘obstruction,’” Trump wrote Sunday in a social media post. “We are dealing with sick and evil people!”

The former president pleaded not guilty to charges at an initial appearance in June. Nauta pleaded not guilty earlier this month after his arraignment was delayed by a lack of local counsel, among other issues.

As of Monday morning, court records did not list an attorney for De Oliveira.

The indictment issued last week shows De Oliveira began working as a property manager at Mar-a-Lago in January 2022. He previously worked as a valet at the club.

Authorities continue to investigate.