Ex-president of the United States of America, Donald Trump, is getting into legal woes as Special Counsel Jack Smith charged him with more offenses on Thursday in relation to the classified documents issue. The new indictment accuses Trump and two allies of trying to remove security cameras at his Florida club to conceal evidence of mishandling of documents containing classified information after he left the White House.
The superseding indictment also brings in new charges of obstruction of justice and altering, destroying, or concealing records to Trump and his personal aide, Walt Nauta. It also brings charges against Carlos De Oliveira, the property manager at Mar-a-Lago, for aiding the effort to delete the security footage.
Prosecutors said that Trump, Nauta, and De Oliveira agreed to wipe out the surveillance tapes at Mar-a-Lago in June 2022, after the Justice Department had served them with a subpoena. The indictment alleges that De Oliveira said to another worker, ‘the boss’ wants this server with the footage deleted.
These new allegations take the case against the former president to a whole new level beyond the 37 felony charges he was already answerable to over alleged mishandling and retention of classified documents. Trump has denied any wrong doing and has pleaded not guilty to all the charges brought against him stating that the investigation was politically motivated.
The additional charges also emerge at a time when Trump is ahead in polls for the 2024 Republican presidential candidacy despite increasing legal troubles. His campaign has endeavored to present the various investigations and charges against him as a form of political interferences by the Biden administration in the forth coming election.
But legal scholars argue that the new charges of obstruction could be even worse because they accuse the president of trying to stymie the investigation. In addition, the participation of other Trump associates also expands the range of the case and may be useful for the prosecution to have more cooperating witnesses.
As the legal pressure on Trump rises, people are wondering what it could do to both the Republican primaries and the general election if he wins the nomination. Despite that, Trump still enjoys die-hard support, there are indications that some of the GOP contributors and strategists are getting impatient with the never-ending legal woes of the former president.
The next developments of the case will be expected with interest, though Trump and his co-defendants should be arraigned for the new charges in the coming weeks. As the campaign for 2024 gets underway the situation where a presidential candidate is charged with multiple criminal cases is still having unpredictable effects on the political process.
