Former President Donald Trump’s employees Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira attempted to delete security camera footage after the Justice Department issued a subpoena for the video, prosecutors allege in an indictment stemming from the Trump classified documents investigation.
De Oliveira — a maintenance worker at the resort — told another Trump employee, who was director of IT at the Mar-a-Lago Club, “that ‘the boss’ wanted the server deleted,” according to the indictment.
The unnamed Trump employee, identified as Employee 4, responded that he would not know how to do that and did not believe he would have the rights to do that, and that De Oliveira would have to reach out to a supervisor of security for the Trump Organization, the indictment alleges.
“De Oliveira then insisted to Trump Employee 4 that ‘the boss’ wanted the server deleted and asked, ‘what are we going to do?’” the indictment alleges.
De Oliveira also asked the Trump IT employee how many days the server retained security footage, according to the indictment, and the employee responded he believed it was approximately 45 days.
De Oliveira told the employee that the conversation “should remain between the two of them,” the indictment alleges.
Nauta’s trip to Mar-a-Lago: Prosecutors say one day after Trump’s attorneys received a draft subpoena from prosecutors in June 2022, Trump called De Oliveira. The following day, the subpoena was issued.
Nauta, a close Trump aide, took an unexpected trip to Mar-a-Lago that weekend, according to the indictment, and met with De Oliveira shortly after he arrived.
“At The Mar-a-Lago Club, Nauta and De Oliveira went to the security guard booth where surveillance video is displayed on monitors, walked with a flashlight through the tunnel where the Storage Room was located, and observed and pointed out surveillance cameras,” the indictment states.
The new superseding indictment alleges that a little more than two weeks after the FBI’s August search of Mar-a-Lago, Nauta called another unidentified employee and said something to the effect of, “someone just wants make sure Carlos is good.” The employee, prosecutors alleged, assured Nauta of De Oliviera’s loyalty.
On the same day, the employee confirmed in a Signal chat group with Nauta and a representative of Trump’s political action committee — whom CNN has previously identified as Susie Wiles — that the maintenance worker was loyal.
That same day, “Trump called De Oliveira and told De Oliveira that Trump would get De Oliveira an attorney,” the new indictment says.