'Like a mob movie': How a Mar-a-Lago employee revealed Trump's obstruction plot
August 23, 2023
One of Donald Trump's employees retracted "prior false testimony" in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case after switching lawyers last month, and NBC News correspondent Ken Dilanian compared the situation to the Mafia.
The aide, described in court fillings as "Trump Employee 4" and identified elsewhere as Yuscil Taveras, oversaw information technology at the former president's Florida resort home, and he previously testified to a grand jury in Washington, D.C., that he was unaware of any efforts to erase security videos but withdrew that testimony after dropping a lawyer paid by Trump political action committees.
"Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira are in the same position, but for some reason they declined to do this and they find themselves charged now they're stuck in the situation where they've been charged," Dilianian told MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "De Oliveira, he's lied to the grand jury, he changed his story. This just didn't happen, this happened in July, and then we saw the superseding indictment, which made the most significant allegations of obstruction of justice in this whole affair, which is, as you said, Donald Trump conspiring his employees, allegedly, to destroy evidence that was under a grand jury subpoena. That was a huge deal. So de Oliviera is key witness."
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"As you said, Stanley Woodward represents Walt Nauta in this matter, another lawyer named John Irving represents Carlos de Oliviera," Dilanian continued. "Both men presumably highly sought-after witnesses by the special counsel because they're the ones that actually spoke with Donald Trump, that could testify that Trump ordered the destruction of the video. The [information technology] director spoke to the other guys. Jack Smith would like to get their testimony. Now they're in a bit of a bind because they already charged them with lying to investigators. If they brought them before a trial as witnesses they would have to acknowledge they lied. But to answer your question, absolutely there are more avenues for this to happen."
"It's like a mob movie," he concluded. "Lawyers being paid by President Trump representing witnesses, suddenly when one gets a different lawyer they utterly change their stories and start remembering things they didn't before."
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Watch the segment below or at this link.
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