To Halt The Investigation into Secret Documents, Trump Conspired to Delete Camera Footage

Washington: Former US president Donald Trump faced fresh charges Thursday alleging that he attempted to obstruct the investigation into the mishandling of top-secret documents by conspiring to delete surveillance footage at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida.

Federal prosecutors published the new indictment targeting the front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, who is set to go on trial in the case in May of next year.

Trump dismissed the new accusations as "nothing more than a continued desperate and flailing attempt by the Biden Crime Family and their Department of Justice to harass" him and those around him.

"Deranged" prosecutor Jack Smith "knows they have no case," he continued in a terse statement.

The superseding indictment was issued the same day Trump's lawyers met with prosecutors over possible indictment in a separate case involving Trump's alleged efforts to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election.

The fresh charges accuse the billionaire of acting with his co-defendant in the case, personal aide Waltine "Walt" Nauta, and a new defendant, property manager Carlos de Oliveira, to delete security camera footage at Mar-a-Lago.

The indictment documents a conversation between de Oliveira and a fourth, unnamed employee in which de Oliveira says "the boss" wants the server deleted.

Trump pleaded not guilty last month to some three dozen earlier criminal counts for allegedly refusing to return sensitive government records he took when he left the White House in 2021.

Original News: World News | Agence France-Presse

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