What was bad now looks worse
“If even half of it is true, then he’s toast. It’s a very detailed indictment and it’s very damning,” said former US attorney general William Barr in June after special counsel Jack Smith filed the first indictment in the classified documents case against Donald Trump.
On Thursday, Smith issued a superceding indictment with several more charges and a indicted a third co-conspirator: Mar-a-Lago maintenance employee Carlos De Oliveira. The trio are accused of attempting to destroy evidence sought by federal prosecutors. Beside attempting to destroy evidence, De Oliveira stands accused of lying to investigators.
“Never saw anything,” he told the FBI of Trump’s shuffled boxes. “Never saw nothing.” Those statements were false, the indictment alleges. De Oliveira “personally observed and helped move TRUMP’s boxes” containing classified materials.
“I think this original indictment was engineered to last a thousand years and now this superseding indictment will last an antiquity,” Ty Cobb told CNN. “This is such a tight case, the evidence is so overwhelming.”
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Trump was accused of attempting to destroy evidence and inducing someone else to destroy evidence. He also faces a new count under the Espionage Act, for keeping a document about US plans to attack Iran which he famously discussed on tape.
On his Truth Social platform Thursday night, the report continues, Trump whatabouted Joe Biden’s retention of government documents and called Smith “deranged.”
Ian Millhiser explains at Vox:
In any event, the biggest news in the new Florida indictment is that Trump allegedly instructed members of his staff to destroy surveillance video within his Mar-a-Lago residence, after Trump learned that the DOJ sought that video as part of its investigation into the national security documents kept at Trump’s residence.
The indictment alleges that, after Trump’s lawyers learned that the DOJ would seek the surveillance footage, Trump spoke to two employees: his valet, Walt Nauta, and Carlos De Oliveira, the head of maintenance at Mar-a-Lago. These two employees then instructed a third Trump employee to delete the security footage — although it is not clear if the video was actually deleted. The indictment refers to an “attempt” to destroy security footage.
The indictment does not reveal what was said in many conversations among Nauta, De Oliveira, and Trump, but it does include a few key details linking Trump to the effort to destroy the video footage. At one point, De Oliveira allegedly told the third, unidentified Trump employee that “the boss” wanted the footage deleted. The indictment also alleges that Trump called De Oliveira and told his employee that he would get him a lawyer.
Once again, all are innocent until proved guilty. But what was bad for Trump now looks worse.
Some of MSNBC’s pundits observed that the advantage of Smith’s adding De Oliveira to the case means the jury will see all three men facing some of the same charges for some of the same crimes. This will take their focus off the uniqueness of a former president facing criminal prosecution. Jurors are more likely to see just three Joes accused in the same conspiracy, thus making it near-impossible for them to convict the employees and not “the boss” in what Barr in June described as a “very, very damning” case.
Another possible advantage for Smith is the added pressure for De Oliveira to flip — less likely if Trump is paying his lawyer.
No rotund singer is vocalizing. Yet. Still.
Trump : toast. Goose : cooked.