What we know about the co-conspirators in Trump’s Jan. 6 indictment
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Washington — Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik met with special counsel Jack Smith’s team for about five hours on Monday as part of its investigation into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, his lawyer Tim Parlatore confirmed.
The interview focused on efforts by Rudy Giuliani, who was previously an attorney for former President Donald Trump, to prove allegations of election fraud in seven states, Parlatore said.
CNN was first to report Kerik’s meeting with special counsel investigators.
Kerik, a Trump ally, was police commissioner under Giuliani when he was mayor of New York City and the two worked together on an effort to identify widespread fraud in the 2020 election.
Despite the allegations pushed by Trump and his allies, state and federal judges dismissed dozens of lawsuits challenging the election outcome, and every state certified its election results.
Kerik turned over thousands of pages of records to the special counsel before Trump was indicted last week for his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The indictment also described the actions of six unnamed co-conspirators who allegedly schemed with Trump to block the transfer of power to President Biden.
Giuliani’s attorney, Robert Costello, said it “appears” co-conspirator 1 in the indictment is Giuliani. The indictment describes the person as “an attorney who was willing to spread knowingly false claims and pursue strategies that the Defendant’s 2020 re-election campaign attorneys would not” and is someone Trump appointed to “spearhead his efforts going forward to challenge the election results.”
None of the co-conspirators have been charged with any crimes.
During Monday’s interview with investigators, Kerik discussed the scope of Giuliani’s investigation into alleged election fraud and how Giuliani’s team was composed, according to Parlatore. Investigators’ questions had a significant emphasis on the role of Trump’s political action committee and the apparent lack of funding it provided for Giuliani’s efforts, Parlatore said. Kerik told investigators that more funding might have allowed them to run the fraud allegations to ground to determine credibility, the lawyer said.
Parlatore described the interview as friendly and productive.
Catherine Herridge
Catherine Herridge is a senior investigative correspondent for CBS News covering national security and intelligence based in Washington, D.C.
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WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump on Monday attacked special counsel Jack Smith and the judge assigned to oversee proceedings in the 2020 election case following an indictment that charged him with federal crimes last week.
In a post on his Truth Social account, Trump said that Smith is going before Judge Tanya Chutkan in an effort to take away the former president’s First Amendment rights and demanded that Chutkan recuse herself from the case.
“Deranged Jack Smith is going before his number one draft pick, the Judge of his ‘dreams’ (WHO MUST BE RECUSED!), in an attempt to take away my FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS — This, despite the fact that he, the DOJ, and his many Thug prosecutors, are illegally leaking, everything and anything, to the Fake News Media!!!” Trump wrote.Trump had also called for Chutkan’s recusal in a Truth Social post on Sunday, saying that he was calling for that move “on very powerful grounds” but didn’t elaborate.
A request for comment and clarification wasn’t immediately returned by Trump’s campaign on Monday.
NBC News also reached out to Smith’s office and the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Judge Tanya Chutkan.United States District Court / AFP – Getty Images
Chutkan was randomly assigned last week to preside over the latest Trump case, which includes four counts related to conspiring to defraud the United States and obstructing the election victory of President Joe Biden. Trump pled not guilty to the charges at his arraignment in Washington, D.C. on Thursday before a separate federal judge.
Chutkan, who was appointed by President Barack Obama and has served on the bench for nearly a decade, is known for imposing some of the harshest penalties on rioters who participated in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Trump’s next hearing in the case is set for Aug. 28 when Chutkan is expected to schedule a trial date in the case.
Meanwhile, on Friday, Smith’s office asked Chutkan in a court filing to prohibit the former president from publicly disclosing some of the evidence gathered during their investigation.
Prosecutors also noted that Trump had written “multiple posts” that mentioned or alluded to the case, including one that appeared on his Truth Social page Friday afternoon that read: “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!”
Trump’s use of details or grand jury transcripts obtained in discovery “could have a harmful chilling effect on witnesses or adversely affect the fair administration of justice in this case,” the prosecutors wrote.
At his arraignment on Thursday, Magistrate Judge Moxila A. Upadhyaya warned Trump that “it is a crime to try to influence a juror, or to threaten or attempt to bribe a witness or any other person who may have information about your case, or to retaliate against anyone for providing information about your case to the prosecution, or to otherwise obstruct the administration of justice.”
Chutkan ordered Trump’s attorneys to respond to the government’s motion for a protective order by 5 p.m. ET on Monday.
Rebecca Shabad
Rebecca Shabad is a politics reporter for NBC News based in Washington.
Federal prosecutors on Friday asked the judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s election case to bar him from publicly disclosing some of the evidence gathered during the their investigation.
In a court filing, attorneys with the special counsel Jack Smith’s office requested U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ensure that sensitive materials are used by Trump’s defense team for trial only, and that the former president view the materials in the presence of his lawyers.
“All the proposed order seeks to prevent is the improper dissemination or use of discovery materials, including to the public,” they wrote. “Such a restriction is particularly important in this case because the defendant has previously issued public statements on social media regarding witnesses, judges, attorneys, and others associated with legal matters pending against him.”
Trump, who was arraigned Thursday on charges that included conspiracy to defraud the United States, pleaded not guilty and has publicly condemned the allegations against him.
Prosecutors went on to say that Trump had written “multiple posts” that mentioned or implied the case, including one that appeared on his social media page Friday afternoon that read: “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!”
Trump’s use of details or grand jury transcripts obtained in discovery “could have a harmful chilling effect on witnesses or adversely affect the fair administration of justice in this case,” the prosecutors wrote.
During Trump’s arraignment, Magistrate Judge Moxila A. Upadhyaya issue him a warning that is not commonly given to defendants at arraignments.
“Finally, sir, I want to remind you that it is a crime to try to influence a juror, or to threaten or attempt to bribe a witness or any other person who may have information about your case, or to retaliate against anyone for providing information about your case to the prosecution, or to otherwise obstruct the administration of justice,” she said.
A lawyer for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday night.
Trump’s attorneys are expected to respond to the prosecution’s proposed protective order, much like in the other cases where Trump has been indicted.
In June, a federal judge issued a protective order barring Trump from disclosing on social media — or keeping — evidence the government is set to turn over to him in the classified documents case.
A protective order was also issued in Trump’s criminal hush-money case in New York, where prosecutors asked a judge to ensure that discovery materials in that case be used by defense only for trial, and referred to the former president’s “longstanding and perhaps singular history of attacking witnesses.”
The next hearing in the election case is scheduled for Aug. 28.
Zoë Richards
Zoë Richards is the evening politics reporter for NBC News.
WASHINGTON — The special counsel prosecuting former President Trump for his alleged mishandling of government secrets has asked for a hearing to discuss whether the defense attorney for a co-defendant has a conflict of interest stemming from his multiple clients.
According to a court filing on Wednesday, attorney Stanley Woodward’s current and past clients include three people who could be called to testify against Walt Nauta, Trump’s aide who is charged with conspiring to obstruct the government’s efforts to reclaim classified documents.
Woodward’s clients include two aides who worked for Trump at the White House and into his post-presidency, and a Mar-a-Lago IT director identified as “Trump Employee 4” in the updated indictment. The Washington, D.C.-based lawyer also represents at least seven other people who have been questioned by prosecutors in the case. He declined to comment when reached by NBC News.
Trump’s Save America PAC has spent $20 million on legal fees in the first half of this year, according to FEC filings. Woodward’s firm was paid more than $200,000 in the first six months of the year.
In defending Nauta, Woodward may need to cross-examine a witness with whom he has had privileged discussions, which raises the risk of an “attorney’s improper use or disclosure of the client’s confidences during the cross-examination,” or “may cause the attorney to pull his punches during cross-examination, perhaps to protect the client’s confidences or ‘to advance the attorney’s own personal interest,’” the motion filed by special counsel Jack Smith’s office argues.
The hearing is “appropriate given that an attorney who cross-examines a former or present client inherently encounters divided loyalties,” prosecutors wrote in the filing.
“Employee 4, who is unnamed in the indictment but was identified by NBC News as Yuscil Taveras, secured a new lawyer in July, and did not waive the conflict, according to the motion. Roughly three weeks later, a grand jury charged Trump, Nauta, and Carlos De Oliveira, a Mar-a-Lago property manager, over their efforts to have Taveras delete Mar-a-Lago surveillance footage.
Prosecutors told Woodward earlier this year that they believed Taveras had information that would incriminate Nauta, and that representing both clients at the same time raised a potential conflict of interest. Woodward said he advised both clients of the government’s position, but that he was unaware of anything the employee could say to incriminate Nauta and did not see a conflict, according to the filing.
Counsel for Trump and De Oliveira, the newly charged property manager who appeared for the first time before a federal judge on Monday, did not weigh in with a position when the government notified them in advance of the request.
The process, known as a Garcia hearing, is not unusual, but it adds a new complication in a case where a handful of lawyers are representing Trump and other individuals.
“This is a problem when you represent multiple people,” said Mark Schnapp, a longtime Miami criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor in South Florida. “In an optimal world, you represent people in multiple representations where none of them get indicted. But it happens.”
By asking for a Garcia hearing, Schnapp said the special counsel is moving to address what could be an issue down the line.
“Let’s assume it went to trial and the government did nothing, and then Nauta said on appeal, ‘Look, I didn’t get a fair trial,’” said Schnapp. “They’re doing the right thing by getting it on the record as to whether it’s a waivable conflict. This way, they knock out a potential issue from appeal.”
Katherine Doyle
Katherine Doyle is a White House reporter for NBC News.
Watch: Special counsel Jack Smith speaks on Trump Jan. 6 indictment – CBS News
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Special counsel Jack Smith delivered a statement Tuesday after a grand jury indicted former President Donald Trump in the Justice Department’s Jan. 6 investigation. “The attack on our nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy,” Smith said. “As described in the indictment, it was fueled by lies.”
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Washington — Special counsel Jack Smith announced new charges against former President Donald Trump stemming from his office’s investigation into Trump’s efforts to stay in power after he lost the 2020 election, saying the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol was “fueled by lies.”
“The attack on our nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy,” Smith said in a brief remarks after the release of the 45-page indictment detailing the charges. “As described in the indictment, it was fueled by lies. Lies by the defendant targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the U.S. government: the nation’s process of collecting, counting and certifying the results of the presidential election.”
Special counsel Jack Smith speaks to members of the media at the Department of Justice building in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 1, 2023.
SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
Trump is charged with with conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and claimed Smith is politically biased.
The indictment alleges Trump disseminated false allegations of widespread fraud in the 2020 election “to make his knowingly false claims appear legitimate, create an intense national atmosphere of mistrust and anger, and erode public faith in the administration of the election,” ultimately culminating in the Jan. 6 attack.
Smith said law enforcement who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6 are “heroes” and “patriots.”
“They did not just defend a building or the people sheltering in it. They put their lives on the line to defend who we are as a country and as a people,” he said. “They defended the very institutions and principles that define the United States.”
Smith said he would seek a “speedy trial” and that his investigation into other individuals connected to the efforts to overthrow the election continues.
The indictment alleges that six unnamed co-conspirators were “enlisted” to assist Trump in “his criminal efforts to overturn” the election “and retain power.” Trump and his co-conspirators allegedly “pushed officials to ignore the popular vote” and “organized fraudulent slates of electors” in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the indictment says.
Trump has been summoned to appear Thursday afternoon at the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C.
In a statement, the Trump campaign said the charges were “nothing more than the latest corrupt chapter in the continued pathetic attempt by the Biden Crime Family and their weaponized Department of Justice to interfere with the 2024 Presidential Election.”
It’s the second indictment against Trump stemming from Smith’s investigations. He also faces charges including conspiracy, obstruction and willfully retaining national defense information for his alleged mishandling of classified documents after he left the White House. He has pleaded not guilty in that case.
Caitlin Yilek
Caitlin Yilek is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital. Reach her at caitlin.yilek@cbsinteractive.com. Follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/hausofcait
Washington — Former President Donald Trump has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges stemming from efforts to remain in power after he lost the 2020 presidential election, adding to the former president’s ongoing legal troubles as he mounts a third bid for the White House.
According to the indictment handed up Tuesday by a federal grand jury, Trump faces four charges: conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights.
“From on or about November 14, 2020, through on or about January 20, 2021, in the District of Columbia and elsewhere, the defendant, Donald J. Trump, did knowingly combine, conspire, confederate, and agree with co-conspirators, known and unknown to the grand jury, to injure, oppress, threaten, and intimidate one or more persons in the free exercise and enjoyment of a right and privilege secured to them by the Constitution and laws of the United States — that is, the right to vote, and to have one’s vote counted,” the indictment states.
The indictment lists six unnamed co-conspirators, who, the indictment alleges were “enlisted” to assist Trump in “his criminal efforts to overturn” the election “and retain power.”
Trump has been summoned to appear at 4 p.m. on Thursday before Magistrate Judge Moxila A. Upadhyaya at the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C.
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MIAMI, Fl.— The Mar-a-Lago property manager charged in a new indictment alongside former President Donald Trump in the alleged mishandling of classified government documents after Trump left office has not secured a Florida-based lawyer ahead of his first court appearance Monday.
Carlos De Oliveira, 56, is set to appear before a magistrate judge Monday in Miami to enter his plea after he was named last week as a third co-defendant in a superseding, or amended, indictment. Prosecutors charge that De Oliveira attempted to delete surveillance footage at the former president’s Palm Beach club after the Justice Department sought to obtain it.
“We’re working on ascertaining local counsel,” John Irving, an attorney for De Oliveira, told NBC News.
But without a lawyer who can practice in Florida, Irving said he didn’t think the judge would proceed with De Oliveira’s arraignment. Irving said it would depend on the judge, raising the prospect of delays in the case.
De Oliveira has been summoned to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres, who presided over the arraignment of Walt Nauta, Trump’s personal aide who is also indicted in the classified documents case. Nauta’s not guilty plea was twice postponed because of difficulties in hiring local counsel.
De Oliveira, a former maintenance worker who had climbed the ranks at Mar-a-Lago for more than a decade, was a little-known aide at the club before being named a co-conspirator alongside Trump and Nauta in special counsel Jack Smith’s updated indictment unsealed on Thursday. Asked about De Oliveira after the federal indictment was unsealed Thursday, one person close to Trump responded, “Who the hell is that?”
Filed in the Southern District of Florida, the updated indictment lays out new charges against Trump, Nauta, and, now, De Oliveira, who are accused of conspiring to thwart federal investigators’ efforts to retrieve sensitive classified documents from Trump in his post-presidency.
According to court documents, De Oliveira told another employee at Trump’s Palm Beach club that “the boss” wanted surveillance footage deleted, a conversation that took place after Trump’s attorneys received a subpoena to turn over the recordings.
De Oliveira is also accused of making false statements to prosecutors, including the assertion that he “never saw anything” when asked whether he was involved with moving boxes of classified materials.
Aides to Trump appear to voice concern about De Oliveira’s loyalty to the former president. Speaking to another employee, Nauta “said words to the effect of, ‘someone just wants to make sure Carlos is good,’” according to the indictment. In a Signal message to Nauta and another aide to Trump, who is described as a representative for his political action committee, the employee responds that De Oliveira is “loyal.”
That same day, “Trump called De Oliveira and told De Oliveira that Trump would get De Oliveira an attorney,” the indictment says.
Katherine Doyle
Katherine Doyle is a White House reporter for NBC News.
Washington — Prosecutors with special counsel Jack Smith’s office have added new charges against former President Donald Trump in the case involving documents with classified markings discovered at this Florida resort of Mar-a-Lago, according to court papers filed in federal court Thursday evening.
A superseding indictment unsealed by the Justice Department lists multiple new counts against Trump, including: altering, destroying, mutilating, or concealing an object; and corruptly altering, destroying, mutilating or concealing a document, record or other object; and an additional charge of willful retention of national defense information.
Trump was previously charged with 37 felony counts, including 31 counts of willful retention of classified documents and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice. He has pleaded not guilty and claimed the prosecution is a politically motivated “witch hunt” against him. Speaking Thursday with Breitbart, Trump called the charges “harassment” and “election interference.”
Walt Nauta, the former president’s aide, was also charged in the case and pleaded not guilty.
The new document names a third defendant in the case: Carlos De Oliveira, a Mar-a-Lago property manager and former valet. He faces one count of altering, destroying, mutilating, or concealing an object; one count of corruptly altering, destroying, mutilating or concealing a document, record or other object; and one count of making false statements and representations during a voluntary interview with federal investigators.
He has been ordered to appear in federal court in Miami on Monday morning. An attorney for De Oliveira declined to comment, as did a lawyer for Nauta.
Steve Cheung, spokesman for the Trump campaign, claimed the new counts are part of an effort to damage Trump as he seeks the Republican presidential nomination and “nothing more than a continued desperate and flailing attempt by the Biden Crime Family and their Department of Justice to harass President Trump and those around him.”
The 32nd count of willful retention of national defense information in the superseding indictment stems from a document Trump showed to four people during a July, 21, 2021, meeting at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, according to the new filing. The indictment alleges that the document, which Trump had until mid-Jan. 2022, was marked TOP SECRET/NOFORN, and is described in the indictment as a “presentation concerning military activity in a foreign country.”
The superseding indictment notes that Trump was participating in a recorded interview with a writer and a publisher, and two of his aides were also present. The former president told the group he had a “plan of attack” from a senior military official. Trump characterized the document as “highly confidential” and “secret information” and noted that “as president I could have declassified it. … Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.” The indictment also points out that neither the aides nor the writer or publisher had a security clearance.
The document, which CBS News reported was a Defense Department memo on Iran, was not part of the original 31 counts of retention of national defense information charged in Smith’s initial indictment.
What are the allegations against Carlos De Oliveira?
The superseding indictment names De Oliveira as one of the aides who helped move boxes for Trump, and federal prosecutors allege that he, along with Trump and Nauta, instructed an unnamed employee to delete Mar-a-Lago security camera footage to prevent it from being turned over to a federal grand jury.
According to the filing, the Justice Department emailed the attorney for Trump’s business with the final grand jury subpoena, requiring the production of surveillance records, videos and images, on June 24, 2022. The next day, on June 25, Nauta and De Oliveira went to the security guard booth where surveillance video is displayed, and pointed out surveillance cameras, the indictment alleges.
On June 27, 2022, the indictment says, De Oliveira took another Trump employee to a small room known as an “audio closet,” and asked the employee how many days the server retained security footage. The employee said he believed it was about 45 days.
“De Oliveira told Trump Employee 4 that ‘the boss’ wanted the server deleted,” the indictment states. “Trump Employee 4 responded that he would not know how to do that, and that he did not believe that he would have the rights to do that. … De Oliveira then insisted to Trump Employee 4 that ‘the boss’ wanted the server deleted and asked, ‘What are we going to do?'”
Federal investigators spoke with De Oliveira at his house on Jan. 13 and asked him about the location and movement of the boxes stored at Mar-a-Lago, prosecutors said in the filing. De Oliveira told the FBI at the time that he was not part of a group that helped unload and move boxes at the end of Trump’s presidency, the indictment states. In response to a question about whether he was aware that boxes were being moved, he replied that he “never saw anything,” according to the Justice Department.
According to the indictment, De Oliveira also told the FBI during the voluntary interview that he didn’t know where items would’ve been stored when Trump returned to Mar-a-Lago.
His statements “were false, as De Oliveira knew, because De Oliveira had personally observed and helped move Trump’s boxes when they arrived at” Mar-a-Lago in January 2021, according to the filing.
The charges against Trump related to his handling of sensitive government records are the first brought by the Justice Department against a former president. The judge overseeing the case, Judge Aileen Cannon, has set a trial date of May 2024, to take place at the courthouse in Fort Pierce, Florida.
The new charges come as the former president and his attorneys are waiting for the possibility of a separate indictment stemming from Smith’s investigation into attempts to alter the 2020 presidential election and interfere with the peaceful transfer of power. Trump’s attorneys met with federal prosecutors at the special counsel’s office Thursday in Washington, D.C. He has also denied wrongdoing in this case.
