Donald Trump facing fresh charges in classified papers case over claim he ordered staff to delete CCTV footage
28 July 2023, 08:59
US President Donald Trump has been accused of ordering staff to delete critical CCTV footage to block the investigation into claims he illegally hoarded classified documents at home.
Mr Trump was charged in June with conspiring to hide classified documents at his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, from government investigators who were demanding them back. The original indictment held 38 counts.
The fresh allegations add new charges against the former president and adds another defendant to the case.
The new defendant, charged alongside Mr Trump and his valet Walt Nauta, was identified as Carlos De Oliveira.
Mr Trump is the first former US President to face federal criminal prosecution.
It comes as he continues his campaign to return to the White House in 2024 - with flocks of his supporters on the streets of Miami to mark his arrival.
A spokesperson for Mr Trump dismissed the new charges as "nothing more than a continued desperate and flailing attempt" by the Biden administration "to harass President Trump and those around him" and to influence the 2024 presidential race.
The records were taken by Mr Trump to the Palm Beach complex after he left the White House in January 2021.
Both men have pleaded not guilty.
The classified documents indictment contains dozens of charges, including illegally retaining information about nuclear secrets.
Other charges include conspiracy to commit obstruction and false statements.
Around 13,000 documents were seized in raids on Mr Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida nearly one year ago.
Pictures released by the Justice Department show dozens of boxes stacked into Mr Trump's property in Florida, including several in a bathroom.
The former president, who has already been charged with a crime this year, ramped up the rhetoric against the Justice Department special counsel who filed the case.
Mr Trump has labelled prosecutor Jack Smith "deranged" as he repeated claims that he was the target of a political persecution.
Mr Trump is expected to meet with special advisers before his scheduled court appearance, and has encouraged his supporters to attend a planned protest in Miami on Tuesday.
Speaking to longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone in an interview on WABC Radio after the original indictment, Mr Trump said: "We need strength in our country now.
"And they have to go out and they have to protest peacefully. They have to go out.
"Look, our country has to protest. We have plenty to protest. We've lost everything," he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump has also insisted that under no circumstances is there a situation where he would consider leaving the 2024 Presidential race, in which likely to be the Republican party candidate.
