The Daily Fuckup

The federal classified-documents case tied to Mar-a-Lago got a new layer on July 27, 2023, when prosecutors filed a superseding indictment that added Carlos De Oliveira as a defendant and added new counts against Donald Trump and Walt Nauta. The filing also expanded the government’s account of alleged obstruction around the property’s surveillance system and storage room.

According to the indictment, investigators believe Trump, Nauta and De Oliveira were involved in efforts to get security camera footage deleted after the government sought it. Prosecutors said the video could help show movements of boxes in and out of a storage room at the club. Those are allegations, not findings. The indictment set out the government’s version of events; it did not establish that the footage was actually deleted.

The new filing added another count of willful retention of national defense information against Trump and two obstruction-related counts against Trump and Nauta, while bringing De Oliveira into the case for the first time. It also laid out more detail about the subpoena for video and the exchanges involving club employees, giving the prosecution a fuller theory of how it says evidence was handled once the investigation was underway.

In practical terms, the July 27 indictment made obstruction a more prominent part of the case. The core documents allegations remained in place, but the government’s new filing said the dispute was no longer just about possession and retention. It was also about what happened after investigators started asking for records, and whether anyone tried to keep them from seeing the full picture.