Trump’s Valet and Mar-a-Lago Maintenance Worker Arrive in South Florida Court for Arraignment in Federal Docs Case

FORT PIERCE, Fla. — Donald Trump’s two co-defendants in the South Florida documents case arrived in federal court on Thursday and are expected to both plead not guilty to charges they participated in an alleged conspiracy implicating the former president. 

Carlos De Oliveira, a Mar-a-Lago maintenance worker, and Walt Nauta, Trump’s personal valet, have been accused of conspiring to delete surveillance footage that captured the transfer of boxes containing classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. 

Both men are set to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Shaniek Mills Maynard at the small Alto Lee Adams, Sr. U.S. Courthouse in Fort Pierce, Fla. Trump last Friday told the same court he pleads not guilty and waived his right to appear before the arraignment proceedings.

De Oliveira was added as a defendant in the criminal case on July 27, when Special Counsel Jack Smith filed a superseding indictment which also added additional charges against Trump and Nauta based on allegations they conspired to obstruct efforts to investigate the underlying offenses.

Trump and Nauta both entered pleas of not guilty to the original batch of charges filed in June, which center on allegations that Trump willfully retained sensitive national security records at Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House.

According to the July 27 indictment, De Oliveira is accused of playing a role in Trump’s alleged effort to delete surveillance footage that captured the transfer of boxes containing classified documents. 

The indictment states that in June 2022, De Oliveira went to a Mar-a-Lago IT office and requested that an IT employee, identified as “Trump Employee 4,” step away to an audio closet near a ballroom to talk.

“De Oliveira told Trump Employee 4 that ‘the boss’ wanted the server deleted,” the indictment states. “Trump Employee 4 responded that he would not know how to do that, and that he did not believe that he would have the rights to do that.”

De Oliveira, described in court records as a property manager at Mar-a-Lago, is also accused of helping Nauta move approximately 30 boxes from Trump’s residence to a storage room in June 2022.

De Oliveira is charged with four federal felony counts: conspiracy to obstruct justice; altering, destroying, mutilating or concealing an object; corruptly altering, destroying, mutilating or concealing a document, record or other object; and false statements or misrepresentations. 

The three obstruction charges carry maximum federal sentences of 20 years, while the false statements charge carries a maximum prison term of 5 years in prison if convicted.

Trump has been charged with dozens of counts of willfully retaining national defense information, an offense under 18 U.S.C. 793(e), known as the Espionage Act. The former president also stands accused of conspiring to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document or record, false statements and other charges.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, has set a trial date for May 2024.

Trump is also facing a separate suite of four felony criminal charges in Washington, D.C., tied to his attempt to overturn the 2020 election results won by Joe Biden. The former president has pleaded not guilty in that case, with Smith's team facing a deadline on Thursday to tell the federal judge overseeing the case its proposal for a trial start date.

Reilly reported from Washington, D.C. Engelhardt reported from Fort Pierce, Fla.