Washington, USA – In a recent court filing, Yuscil Taveras, an IT director known as “Trump Employee 4” in legal documents, has reportedly modified his testimony in connection with the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case. This alteration follows his change of legal representation and now implicates former President Donald Trump and two aides in alleged attempts to erase security camera footage. Taveras’ claims have raised new questions in a case where the 77-year-old ex-president is facing 40 charges.
The charges against Trump include allegations of mishandling sensitive files’ storage at his Florida estate and attempting to conceal the alleged misdeed by deleting security video footage. The court filing, submitted on Tuesday 22nd August, discloses Taveras’ change of legal counsel after being informed by special counsel Jack Smith that he was under investigation for perjury. Taveras’ previous attorney also represented one of Trump’s co-defendants, Walt Nauta.
During his testimony before a grand jury in March, Taveras consistently denied any knowledge of or involvement in discussions concerning the Mar-a-Lago security footage. Prosecutors, however, claim to have obtained evidence suggesting that Carlos De Oliveira, a Mar-a-Lago maintenance worker, requested Taveras to erase CCTV footage after investigators demanded this footage to trace the movement of boxes containing the sensitive documents within the resort.
The situation took a turn when Chief Judge James Boasberg, overseeing the federal grand jury, offered Taveras the assistance of a public defender due to a conflict of interest involving his previous attorney, Stanley Woodward. Woodward’s fees were, in part, funded by Trump’s Save America political action committee. Prosecutors indicated that guiding Taveras to rectify his sworn testimony would potentially implicate Nauta. Conversely, if Taveras’ inaccurate testimony remained uncorrected, he could face perjury charges. Subsequently, Taveras opted for legal aid, retracting his previous statement and offering information that allegedly implicates Nauta, De Oliveira, and Trump in the alleged attempts to delete security camera footage.
It is noteworthy that Taveras is not being charged in the ongoing case, which is slated for trial in May of next year. In addition to the Mar-a-Lago case, Trump is concurrently contending with criminal charges in other separate cases.
