More Mar-a-Lago Charges for Trump as January 6 Indictment Looms

This article has been updated.Another day, another indictment for President Trump issued by Special Counsel Jack Smith. This one is of the superseding variety, meaning that it is an addition to the charges handed up last month with respect to the classified documents discovered at Mar-a-Lago. Now glommed on to that 37-count document is a charge of willful retention of classified documents for Mr. Trump and two more obstruction counts for the former president and his valet, Waltine Nauta. There is also a new defendant, a maintenance worker at the Palm Beach manse named Carlos de Oliveira. The willful retention accusation centers on a colloquy where Mr. Trump allegedly displayed plans for a military attack on Iran to visitors at his golf course at Bedminster, New Jersey. Though that exchange was captured captured on audio file, Mr. Trump has denied he shared the document, or that it even exists. The superseding indictment also alleges that Messrs. Trump and de Oliveira conspired to “alter, destroy, mutilate, or conceal” surveillance footage at Mar-a-Lago. The edited indictment discloses that Mr. de Oliveira told another employee that “‘the boss’ wanted the server deleted,” a reference to Mr. Trump. Mr. Smith writes that the troika of defendants — Messrs. Trump, Nauta, and de Oliveira — wanted security footage deleted to “prevent it from being provided to a federal grand jury.” If convicted on that charge, all three face a maximum of 20 years behind bars. The fresh charges on the Florida front come on the same day that President Trump’s attorneys trekked, for a meeting, to Mr. Smith’s Washington office. That conference suggests that yet another indictment of the 45th president, this one with respect to the events of January 6, 2021, is imminent.The conference, which ABC reports lasted about an hour, comes a week and a half after Mr. Trump announced that he had received a “target letter,” which often serves as a prelude to an indictment. It also comes the same day that a grand jury, whose responsibilities include deciding whether to hand up January 6 charges, met at the District of Columbia. The meeting was confirmed by Mr. Trump, who posted to Truth Social: “My attorneys had a productive meeting with the DOJ this morning, explaining in detail that I did nothing wrong, was advised by many lawyers, and that an Indictment of me would only further destroy our Country.” Mr. Trump’s attorneys held similar meetings with prosecutors at both Florida and New York. Both of those were preludes to indictments.While Mr. Trump appears sanguine, NBC reports that his attorneys were told to expect an indictment. Among those lawyers were reportedly two of the most senior in the former president’s orbit of attorneys, Todd Blanche and a newcomer, John Lauro. These meetings are often opportunities for defense counsel to make their last-ditch cases for why charges should be dropped or plea deals should be made. Messrs. Blanche and Lauro likely went into the meeting with Mr. Smith’s team with the target letter in hand. That missive reportedly contained three possible charges: conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction of an official proceeding — this could include witness tampering — and deprivation of rights under color of law. It is possible that Mr. Smith has since added charges, or swapped those for others. He is under no requirement, at this stage, to disclose his plans. Mr. Trump added that “no indication of notice was given during the meeting,” which came on the heels of the news that a former New York City police commissioner, Bernard Kerik, has turned over a trove of documents to Mr. Smith’s office relating to his assistance in efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. He has plans to meet with the special counsel in the coming weeks. Another adviser to Mr. Trump, Mayor Giuliani, has already done so.Mr. Giuliani is also a central figure in the criminal investigation based at Fulton County, Georgia, where the district attorney, Fani Willis, has promised a charging decision before September stemming from her own criminal probe into the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. On Wednesday, the former mayor conceded in a court filing that he made false statements about two poll workers in the Peachtree State. While that admission came in the course of a defamation lawsuit, Mr. Giuliani — like Mr. Trump — is a criminal suspect in Georgia. The former mayor’s filing asserts that he “believes that he has legal defenses” to the accusations of defamation. Also on Thursday, Charles Bethea of the New Yorker tweeted images of barricades being erected outside of the Fulton County courthouse at downtown Atlanta. Those barricades, which suggest that charges could soon be on the way down south as well, were likely erected at word from Ms. Willis. In a letter sent to a local sheriff in the spring, the prosecutor wrote of the “need for heightened security and preparedness in coming months due to this pending announcement.”

More Mar-a-Lago Charges for Trump as January 6 Indictment Looms

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