Mar-a-Lago property manager pleads not guilty in Trump's classified documents case
FORT PIERCE - Carlos de Oliveira, the Mar-a-Lago property manager, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to multiple obstruction-related offenses tied to former President Donald Trump's alleged unlawful retention of documents after leaving office, including classified material at Trump's Florida resort.
An attorney for De Oliveira entered the plea on his behalf during a brief hearing in Fort Pierce.
De Oliveira spoke only to answer the magistrate judge's questions, such as whether he understood the charges against him. De Oliveira and his new attorney, Donnie Murrell of West Palm Beach, walked out of the courthouse without speaking to reporters.
Last week, De Oliveira's arraignment hearing was postponed because he had not secured a Florida-based attorney.
Trump waived his right to appear alongside De Oliveira, and valet Walt Nauta, last Thursday, and the judge accepted a not guilty plea the former president made in court papers. Nauta also pleaded not guilty.
De Oliveira's failure to finalize local counsel marked the latest delay in the case, which is scheduled to go to trial in May. Trump's lawyers have made clear they want to push the trial date back.
An updated indictment brought by special counsel Jack Smith late last month accuses Nauta and De Oliveira of scheming with the Republican former president to try to delete Mar-a-Lago surveillance video sought by investigators.
They are facing charges that include conspiracy to obstruct justice in the case stemming from secret government documents found at the Palm Beach club after Trump left the White House in 2021.
Nauta and Trump were charged in June and previously pleaded not guilty, but a new indictment added more charges and De Oliveira to the case. While De Oliveira made an initial appearance in July, he didn't enter a plea because he hadn't retained local counsel.
Trump was already charged with dozens of felony counts, and the indictment added new counts of obstruction and willful retention of national defense information.
It's one of four different criminal cases Trump is facing this year as he tries to reclaim the White House in 2024. Monday night he was indicted in a case out of Fulton County, Georgia, over alleged efforts by him and his Republican allies to illegally meddle in the 2020 election in that state.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has characterized all the cases against him as politically motivated.