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Donald Trump’s legal woes have deepened following new accusations that he attempted to have surveillance video footage at his Mar-a-Lago estate deleted ahead of an FBI search, adding more criminal counts to a case over his handling of classified documents.
With the Department of Justice expanding their indictment yesterday, federal prosecutors have added a third defendant, Mar-a-Lago’s property manager Carlos de Oliveira, alongside Trump and his personal aide Waltine Nauta.
The case relates to sensitive government material that Trump transferred to his Mar-a-Lago residence after leaving the White House in 2021. When they searched the estate last year, FBI agents found boxes of documents stored across the property, including in a bathroom and shower.
According to the indictment, De Oliveira told an IT colleague before last year’s FBI search that “the boss” wanted the server containing surveillance camera footage deleted. Prosecutors said that De Oliveira and Nauta contacted the IT employee after the DoJ told Trump’s legal team that a grand jury was seeking security camera footage.
The superseding indictment lists a new count of wilful retention of national defence information against Trump, in relation to a document detailing a US military plan of attack that he allegedly showed guests in 2021, boasting: “See as president I could have declassified it . . . Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”
With predictable bellicosity, Trump’s campaign issued a statement dismissing the new indictment as “nothing more than a continued desperate and flailing attempt” by the Biden administration and the DoJ to “harass President Trump and those around him”.
This is not the only legal danger hanging over the former president. Earlier this year he was charged by the Manhattan district attorney over payments to a porn actress with whom he allegedly had an affair. The state of Georgia is also investigating alleged meddling in the 2020 election by Trump and others. If local prosecutors decide to bring charges, they will probably materialise later this summer.
Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:
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Results: NatWest posted its earnings today, which beat analysts’ expectations. The UK bank has been under intense scrutiny following an inaccurate report that Farage’s account at NatWest’s Coutts brand was closed for purely commercial reasons. Others reporting include Air France-KLM, AstraZeneca, British Airways owner IAG, Standard Chartered and energy companies Eni, Chevron and ExxonMobil.
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Economic data: French inflation slowed to its lowest annual rate for 16 months. Falling energy prices brought consumer price growth down to 5 per cent last month from 5.3 per cent the previous month. The falling figures offer relief ahead of publication of price data for the wider eurozone on Monday.
Five more top stories
1. Russia is raising its conscription age by three years as a bill that passed through a key security committee in the upper house of parliament on Thursday increases the upper age limit from 27 to 30. The move came as fighting intensified in Ukraine’s southern front lines, particularly in the Zaporizhzhia region and Moscow increasingly prepares for a long-term conflict. Read the full story.
2. Spain faces an EU probe over its curbs on ride-hailing services designed to protect the traditional taxi industry. The European Court of Justice last month ruled the city of Barcelona’s restrictions were “contrary to European law” in part because they were designed to insulate regular cabs from new app-based competition.
3. Brussels plans ‘foreign influence’ clampdown on lobbying groups. Brussels is looking to combat hidden influence campaigns with a plan to force lobbyists, non-governmental organisations and law firms in the EU to disclose details of big contracts with foreign governments or state-owned entities. Groups that fail to comply with the disclosure requirements can be fined under the planned reforms. More than 200 groups protested against the law in May.
4. Koran-burning protests have prompted warnings from the Swedish prime minister as the demonstrations spark anger across the Muslim world and have led to fears of an increased risk of terror attacks. Police in the Scandinavian country, which has strong free-speech protections, are deciding whether to allow further burnings of the holy Islamic book.
5. The Bank of Japan has relaxed controls on its government bond market prompting a surge in the country’s benchmark bond yields to the highest level in nine years. In an unexpected move, the BoJ said it would offer to buy 10-year Japanese government bonds at 1 per cent in fixed-rate operations, in effect widening the trading band on long-term yields.
How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz.
News in-depth
With Joe Biden gearing up for his re-election bid in 2024, questions are being asked about his son, Hunter, and whether his mounting professional, personal and legal troubles might obstruct his father’s campaign.
On Wednesday, Hunter Biden attended a Delaware court to fulfil a plea deal stemming from accusations that he failed to pay federal income tax and illegally possessed a firearm. Instead of drawing a line under some of his legal jeopardy, the plea deal unravelled; the judge questioned the terms of the agreement, as well as an ongoing Department of Justice probe into whether Hunter Biden violated US foreign lobbying laws.
We’re also reading . . .
Chart of the day
“The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived,” UN secretary-general António Guterres said yesterday as scientific forecasts showed July was expected to be the hottest month ever recorded.
Take a break from the news
Never wanting to be a pop star, Sinéad O’Connor was a waif-like warrior with a mesmerising voice who aspired to be like Bob Dylan — “not just an entertainer, but an activist”. Ireland was stunned when the news broke on Wednesday of the singer’s death. Read her full obituary here.
Additional contributions by Benjamin Wilhelm, Leah Quinn and David Hindley
