New defendant in Trump documents case makes first court appearance but still needs a Florida attorney

MIAMI — The third and newest co-defendant in former President Donald Trump’s classified documents case was unable to be fully arraigned Monday after failing to secure local counsel.

Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira only heard the charges against him and received pre-trial orders, including turning over his expired passport, after his Washington, D.C.-based attorney John Irving told the court that his client couldn’t find an attorney authorized to practice in the South Florida district, and requested an extension.

Magistrate judge Edwin Torres granted the extension to August 10, and the arraignment will take place at the federal courthouse in Fort Pierce, Fla. Judge Shaniek Mills Maynard is expected to be the magistrate judge on duty that day, Torres said.

Torres initially asked De Oliveira to secure a Florida-based attorney by Thursday but Irving said he had a “personal conflict” and next week would be better.

Torres had De Oliveira step up to the lectern. The defendant was somber but, when asked, said he understood the charges against him. He won’t be asked to enter a plea until his next court appearance in Fort Pierce. De Oliveira was released on bond.

Prosecutor Jay Bratt asked the court to impose the same pre-trial conditions Trump faced, which bar him from discussing the case with others. Bratt told the judge he already provided the list of witnesses to the defense.

The Department of Justice accused De Oliveira, 56, of trying to delete security footage investigators sought when they were working to uncover evidence regarding Trump’s alleged hoarding of classified materials. The DOJ on Thursday charged De Oliveira with conspiracy to obstruct justice, lying to the FBI and destroying evidence. De Oliveira was charged as part of a superseding indictment that also accuses Trump of asking a staffer to delete security video footage to obstruct federal investigators.

In addition, Trump also faces new charges that include possessing and sharing a highly classified war plan.

Trump’s trial is tentatively set for May 20, 2024 — a date at which the Republican nomination for president is likely to be already decided. The former president is the clear frontrunner in the race, though he faces dozens of counts against him in an indictment brought by the Justice Department's special counsel, Jack Smith.

Justice Department prosecutors allege Trump withheld classified records from the government after leaving office and attempted to obstruct their return. He’s now facing 32 counts of willfully retaining national defense information under the Espionage Act and another eight counts connected to alleged obstruction of justice.

De Oliveira, a Portuguese immigrant, worked at Mar-a-Lago for more than a decade after starting out as a maintenance worker and then becoming a valet, according to numerous news reports and the indictment. He was promoted to the role of property manager in January 2022.

DOJ alleges in its indictment that De Oliveira told an IT employee that “the boss” wanted security video footage deleted after investigators subpoenaed it.

Torres is the same magistrate judge who oversaw the arraignment of Walt Nauta, Trump’s personal aide who is also a co-defendant in the case. Federal prosecutors allege that Nauta helped pack Trump's boxes of documents before he left the White House and repeatedly moved them around Mar-a-Lago at the ex-president's request.

The trial will be overseen by Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee whose court is about two hours north of Miami, in Fort Pierce.

Cannon has played a part in the case before. Legal experts were baffled last year when she approved Trump’s request for a special master — a type of impartial outside arbiter — to sift through and filter out documents the FBI seized from Mar-a-Lago. An appeals court overturned the ruling.

Both Trump and Nauta have pleaded not guilty in the case.