Key witness alters testimony in Trump classified documents case following lawyer change

The former president has denied any wrongdoing in the case. A trial has been listed for May 20, 2024, in Miami.

Washington: A key witness against former US President Donald Trump in the Mar-a-Lago documents case, has retracted from his testimony, local media reported.

In a new court filing on Tuesday, special counsel Jack Smith’s office said, Yuscil Taveras, the director of information technology at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’ club in Palm Beach, Florida, retracted from his previous testimony after he switched from a lawyer paid for by Trump’s Save America PAC to a public defender, NBC news reported.

---

In March, Taveras, who is described in a Justice Department court filing as “Trump Employee 4”, before the grand jury in Columbia had claimed not to recall any contacts or conversations about the security footage at Mar-a-Lago, the court filing added.

Taveras provided prosecutors with new information regarding alleged efforts to delete surveillance camera footage taken at the Trumps’s Palm Beach, Fla., club and residence, which led to a revised indictment and new charges against Trump, his valet Walt Nauta and a third defendant, Carlos De Oliveira, the court filing said.

Taveras new testimony comes after he got to know that he was being investigated on suspicion of having made false statements in his previous grand jury testimony in Washington, D.C. and faced criminal exposure to prejury, the court filing said.

The former president has denied any wrongdoing in the case. A trial has been listed for May 20, 2024, in Miami.