Former US President Donald Trump and his aide Waltine Nauta entered not-guilty pleas onnew criminal charges in their federal classified documents case on Thursday in a Florida courtroom. Trump pleaded not guilty to three new charges and Nauta pleaded not guilty to an additional charge, according to JURIST – News.
The third co-defendant added to the case by federal prosecutors in July, Trump property manager Carlos De Oliveira, was unable to enter his plea because he did not have local legal counsel. De Oliveira has been added to the case due to allegations of his involvement in conspiring to erase surveillance footage subpoenaed from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. This surveillance footage is believed to capture Nauta and De Oliveira relocating boxes of classified documents, which had been allegedly retained by Trump unlawfully from his term as president, from a storage room to Trump’s personal residence at Mar-a-Lago and onto an airplane heading to Trump’s Bedminster, New Jersey residence.
Following Thursday’s proceedings, Trump has now pleaded not guilty to a total of40 criminal charges in this case, while Nauta has pleaded not guilty toeight criminal charges. De Oliveira is expected to enter his plea on the four criminal charges he now faces next week – after having the opportunity to secure local counsel.
The trial for this case is currently scheduled to commence onMay 20, 2024. However, given the introduction of new charges and an additional co-defendant, it is expected that this date may be postponed further.
In addition to this case, former President Trump also faces another federal criminal casein Washington DC related to his alleged intervention in the 2020 presidential election, and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg haschargedTrump with falsifying business records in an effort to conceal harmful information from the public after the 2016 presidential election. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is also speculated to soon release an indictment against Trump for his alleged efforts to tamper with the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia.