The arraignment for Donald Trump’s latest codefendant in the classified documents criminal case was postponed Monday, as prosecutors argue that an expanded indictment shouldn’t change the schedule the judge set leading up to a May 20 trial.
(Bloomberg) — The arraignment for Donald Trump’s latest codefendant in the classified documents criminal case was postponed Monday, as prosecutors argue that an expanded indictment shouldn’t change the schedule the judge set leading up to a May 20 trial.
Carlos De Oliveira, a property manager at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, made his first appearance Monday at the Miami federal courthouse after a grand jury returned an indictment on July 27 adding him to the case. He didn’t enter an initial plea because he hasn’t secured a Florida-licensed attorney.
De Oliveira will be released on a $100,000 personal surety bond and is due back in court Aug. 10. Court records show he’ll need court approval to travel outside south Florida — a restriction Trump doesn’t face — and can’t communicate with people identified by the government as witnesses unless it’s through his lawyer.
Trump’s legal team hasn’t signaled yet if they’ll argue to postpone the trial in light of the additional charges. After the indictment was announced, Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office filed a notice with US District Judge Aileen Cannon preemptively arguing that it shouldn’t “disturb” the schedule she already set and that prosecutors were taking steps “to ensure that it does not do so.”
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They wrote that they would “promptly” turn over evidence related to new obstruction charges against Trump, and make arrangements to produce material to De Oliveira once he has a lawyer licensed to practice in Florida. They said they would also work swiftly to get De Oliveira’s lawyers started with the security clearance process.
Trump is charged with illegally keeping sensitive national defense information after he left the White House. Along with De Oliveira and his original codefendant Waltine “Walt” Nauta, he is also accused of conspiring to obstruct the government’s efforts to retrieve the classified material.
Trump and Nauta had argued against setting any trial date, a request that Cannon rejected. She scheduled the trial to begin May 20 — later than the Dec. 11 prosecutors had hoped for — and set a series of filing deadlines and hearings in the coming months.
Trump and Nauta will have to be arraigned on the new indictment, but prosecutors wrote in the earlier filing that they wouldn’t object if the pair waived making an in-person appearance to do that, which is allowed under federal court rules. Both men pleaded not guilty to the original set of charges.
Cannon’s schedule anticipates a single trial. Nauta’s lawyer said at an earlier hearing that one issue they would have to consider is whether to argue to sever his case, since Trump is facing additional counts related to unlawfully retaining classified information.
(Updated with additional information about De Oliveira’s release conditions.)
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