Former U.S. President Donald Trump has been implicated in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case due to a significant alteration in the testimony of one of his employees, as per the recent court documents, BBC reports.
Yuscil Taveras, identified as Trump Employee 4 in legal records and an IT director, revised his testimony after changing his legal representation, as confirmed by prosecutors. Taveras now accuses Mr. Trump and two of his aides of orchestrating "efforts to delete security camera footage," as stated in the court filing.
Facing a total of 40 charges in the case, the 77-year-old ex-president maintains his plea of not guilty. Trump, along with his close personal aide Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago maintenance worker Carlos De Oliveira, are all defendants in the case. The allegations against Mr. Trump center around allegations of mishandling sensitive documents' storage at his Florida estate and attempting to cover up the alleged wrongdoing by erasing security footage.
The court filing, submitted on August 22, reveals that Taveras sought new legal representation after being informed by special counsel Jack Smith of an ongoing perjury investigation against him. Taveras' previous attorney also represented co-defendant Mr. Nauta. During his grand jury testimony in March, Taveras consistently denied any involvement or knowledge of discussions related to the Mar-a-Lago security footage.
Prosecutors have gathered evidence suggesting that De Oliveira had urged Taveras to delete CCTV footage after investigators requested the video to track the movement of boxes containing sensitive documents within the resort. Chief Judge James Boasberg, overseeing the federal grand jury, offered a public defender to Taveras due to concerns about a conflict of interest involving his lawyer Stanley Woodward, who was partially funded by Trump's Save America political action committee.
The court filing highlights the dilemma: "Advising Trump Employee 4 to correct his sworn testimony would result in testimony incriminating Mr. Woodward's other client, Nauta; but permitting Trump Employee 4's false testimony to stand uncorrected would leave Trump Employee 4 exposed to criminal charges for perjury."
On July 5, Taveras informed Judge Boasberg of his decision to switch legal representation and accept the offer of legal aid. Following this change, Taveras retracted his previous false testimony and provided information that implicated Nauta, De Oliveira, and Trump in the alleged efforts to delete security camera footage, as detailed in the amended indictment.
While Taveras himself is not facing charges in this case, the trial is scheduled for May next year.
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