By Steve Neavling
A Trump employee and key witness in former President Trump’s classified documents case has retracted previous false testimony and provided new information that bolsters the classified documents case brought by special counsel Jack Smith, prosecutors said in a new court filing.
Yuscil Taveras, the director of information technology at Mar-a-Lago, changed his testimony before a grand jury after hiring a new lawyer, NBC News reports.
Taveras is an important witness because he monitored security cameras at Mar-a-Lago.
Taveras initially testified that he was not aware of any effort to erase the videos, but after hiring a new attorney, “retracted his prior testimony,” the court filing says.
In his new testimony, Taveras described efforts to tamper with evidence by deleting security camera footage at the club.
Taveras changed lawyers after concerns were raised about his initial attorney, Stanley Woodward, who also represents other possible witnesses and one of the co-defendants, Walt Nauta, a personal aide to Trump.
“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 says.
Taveras has been described as Employee No. 4.
The grand jury, which was completed on Aug. 17, ultimately led to Trump and his co-defendants being charged.
