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A key witness in the case accusing former US president Donald Trump of mishandling classified documents after leaving office has entered into a deal with prosecutors to provide testimony, his former lawyer said in a Wednesday court filing.
The deal was reached after US special counsel Jack Smith’s office threatened to prosecute the witness, who is the head of information technology at Mr Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Florida resort, for lying to a grand jury, the attorney, Stanley Woodward, said in the filing.
Mr Woodward currently represents Walt Nauta, one of the two Trump employees also charged in the documents case, in addition to having previously represented the IT head, who is not named in Wednesday’s filing.
Prosecutors have said the employee is likely to testify at trial, posing a potential conflict of interest for Mr Woodward, who will face the prospect of a former client testifying against a current client.
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Mr Woodward has not opposed the request for US district judge Aileen Cannon, who is presiding over the case, to hold a hearing on the issue. But he suggested in Wednesday’s filing that prosecutors’ handling of the IT manager’s testimony was improper.
The case is one of four criminal prosecutions of Mr Trump, who leads the field seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic president Joe Biden in the 2024 election.
Prosecutors previously said that the witness, who has been identified by media outlets Politico and CNN as Yuscil Taveras, had information about efforts by Mr Trump’s personal aide Mr Nauta and others to obstruct the classified documents investigation.
Mr Taveras’s current lawyer had no immediate comment.
Prosecutors have charged Mr Trump, Mr Nauta and a third Mar-a-Lago employee, Carlos De Oliveira, with trying to thwart government efforts to retrieve sensitive documents taken to the Florida resort after Mr Trump left office. All three have pleaded not guilty.
A spokesperson for Mr Smith’s office declined to comment. Mr Woodward declined to comment.
Prosecutors said in an August court filing that the witness initially denied any knowledge of obstruction. After receiving a letter from the special counsel’s office threatening him with prosecution, he dropped Mr Woodward as his lawyer and then detailed alleged efforts to delete security camera footage at Mar-a-Lago, they said.
Mr Woodward rejected prosecutors’ account in Wednesday’s filing, saying the IT employee provided new testimony to the grand jury only after being offered a non-prosecution deal, which was reached after he was no longer representing the employee.
Mr Trump said in a radio interview on Wednesday that he would be willing to testify in his own defence at a trial over his alleged mishandling of the classified documents
“I look forward to testifying,” Mr Trump told the conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.
Mr Trump has a history of showing a willingness to testify in investigations, only to backpedal later. He said in 2018 that he would speak under oath with former special counsel Robert Mueller, who investigated potential co-ordination between his 2016 presidential campaign and the Russian government. Mr Trump ultimately did not speak with prosecutors and was not charged in the investigation. – Reuters
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