Jack Smith Shuts Down D.C. Grand Jury
According to documents filed Tuesday by Special Counsel Jack Smith's office, the federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. that had been investigating Donald Trump's handling of classified documents has ended.
In the 12-page document filed by David Harbach, a deputy of the Special Counsel, prosecutors claim that using two grand juries simultaneously, one in Florida and one in Washington, D.C., was necessary to get to the bottom of things, citing testimony from one of Trump's employees, Yuscil Taveras, that led to last month's superseding indictment against Trump and his two co-defendants.
The new court filing confirms some details previously reported by The Washington Post: that Taveras changed lawyers not long after the June indictment and subsequently offered evidence against De Oliveira, Trump and another Trump employee charged in the case, Waltine “Walt” Nauta. The three are charged in Florida with scheming to try to delete security camera footage at Mar-a-Lago that showed boxes of sensitive documents being moved around the building.
Tuesday’s filing says that cooperation from Taveras — who has only been identified in court papers as “Trump Employee 4” — came after he gave false answers to the D.C. grand jury earlier this year.
“Immediately after receiving new counsel, Trump Employee 4 retracted his prior false testimony and provided information that implicated Nauta, (Carlos) De Oliveira, and Trump in efforts to delete security camera footage, as set forth in the superseding indictment,” the filing said.
Taveras and Nauta were both represented by the same attorney, Stan Woodward, at one point, which prosecutors say could be a conflict of interest given that Taveras eventually gave sworn testimony implicating Nauta, and that Judge Aileen M. Cannon should hold a hearing to examine that potential conflict and its effects on the case.
Another Trump employee, Carlos DeOliveira, has been charged with lying to FBI agents in connection to the case, and has pled not guilty.
(This is a developing story; further updates will be provided as they become available.)
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