Mar-A-Lago staff member recants ‘false testimony,’ implicates Trump: court papers.
Former Mar-a-Lago Employee Flips, Testifies Against Trump in Criminal Case
An employee at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate has made a stunning turn and is now testifying against the former president in a criminal prosecution. Special Counsel Jack Smith is investigating Trump’s handling of classified records after leaving office.
The employee, known as “Trump Employee 4,” had a change of heart after a meeting with a lawyer from the federal defender’s office in Washington, D.C. He decided to no longer be represented by a lawyer paid for by Trump’s political action committee and recommended by Trump’s lawyer.
In response to U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon’s inquiry about collecting grand jury evidence in Washington, D.C. for a case in Florida, Smith’s team revealed this revelation. Smith also informed Cannon that the grand jury in Washington, D.C. has completed its work.
“During these investigations, the Government gathered evidence that Trump employee Carlos De Oliveira tried to enlist the director of information technology for Mar-a-Lago (identified in the superseding indictment as Trump Employee 4) to delete Mar-a-Lago security footage after the grand jury in the District of Columbia had issued a subpoena for the footage,” the court filing said.
The U.S. government approached Stanley Woodward, the lawyer representing Trump Employee 4, to inform him of a potential conflict of interest. Woodward was representing both Trump Employee 4 and Walt Nauta, a Trump aide accused of conspiring to obstruct the grand jury investigation.
“Mr. Woodward responded that he did not have a reason to believe that his concurrent representation of Trump Employee 4 and Nauta raised a conflict of interest,” the filing stated. However, evidence presented by the government indicated that the testimony of Trump Employee 4 and De Oliveira was false.
Subsequently, prosecutors notified Trump Employee 4 that he was the target of a grand jury investigation in Washington, D.C. for potential perjury charges.
Smith’s team explained that this notification created a conflict of interest for Woodward. If he advised Trump Employee 4 to correct his sworn testimony, it would incriminate Nauta. If he advised against correcting the statement, Trump Employee 4 could face criminal prosecution. The conflict was further heightened by the fact that Woodward was being paid by Trump’s PAC and recommended by Trump’s lawyer.
As a result, Trump Employee 4 sought advice from independent counsel provided by Chief Judge Boasberg. On July 5, 2023, Trump Employee 4 decided to switch lawyers and be represented by the First Assistant Federal Defender. With new counsel, he retracted his previous false testimony and provided information that implicated Nauta, De Oliveira, and Trump in efforts to mar-a-lago-retracts-false-testimony-implicates-trump-court-docs/” title=”Mar-A-Lago staff member recants ‘false testimony,’ implicates Trump: court papers.”>delete security camera footage.
BREAKING: Jack Smith’s team tells Judge Cannon that a key witness in Trump’s Mar-a-Lago documents case retracted false testimony after switching lawyers.
Details TKhttps://t.co/TrUDLFDTmm pic.twitter.com/2fnxtbYIrd
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 22, 2023
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