Former President Donald Trump is facing new federal charges over his alleged refusal to return classified documents to federal authorities after he left the White House.
A 60-page superseding indictment filed Thursday accuses Trump of directing Carlos de Oliveira, a maintenance worker at his Mar-a-Lago estate, to destroy security camera footage sought by federal investigators in the summer of 2022. It also alleges that Trump possessed and shared plans for a US attack on an unidentified country, reportedly Iran, charging him with an additional count of willful retention of national defense information.
Prosecutors also brought two new obstruction counts against Trump, as well as de Oliveira, a new defendant in the case, and Walt Nauta, Trump’s body man. And they hit de Oliveira with charges of altering, destroying, or mutilating a document and false statements.
That brings the total counts Trump is facing in the case to 40. Trump is also accused of making false statements and representations, conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document or record, concealing a document in a federal investigation, and scheming to conceal.
Trump and Nauta have already pleaded not guilty to the initial charges, and a trial has been scheduled in the case for next May, ahead of the 2024 election. De Oliveira will appear in court on Monday in Miami.
Trump remains the only president to face federal criminal charges. He was also indicted in New York in April in a separate case concerning hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 campaign. And the twice-impeached former president could face additional legal troubles given that he is the target of several additional ongoing civil and criminal investigations. On July 18, Trump announced that he had received a letter indicating that he is likely to soon be charged in the Department of Justice investigation into his involvement in the January 6, 2021,…
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