Prosecutors and defense lawyers have an October date with the federal judge in the government’s classified documents case against Donald Trump to discuss alleged conflicts involving lawyers for two co-defendants.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon on Monday set separate hearings on Oct. 12 for lawyers for Waltine Nauta, a personal valet to the former president, and for Carlos De Oliveira, the property manager at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. She directed both defendants to appear in person in her Fort Pierce courtroom.
Earlier this summer, Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith’s office filed motions alleging that Stanley Woodward Jr., the Washington, D.C., lawyer representing Nauta, has conflicts because he represented other witnesses in the case who could end up testifying for the government.
Woodward represented “at least seven other individuals who have been questioned in connection with the investigation,” including some who testified about Nauta, the government has said. One of those witnesses, according to media reports, is Yuscil Taveras, an information technology worker at Mar-a-Lago.
Taveras reportedly gave prosecutors information supporting charges against Nauta. Taveras is now represented by an assistant federal public defender and has signed a cooperation agreement with the government.
Woodward said the government offered the agreement to Taveras only after he changed lawyers and played no role in negotiating the deal.
In court filings, prosecutors have asserted that Woodward could have a conflict of interest if it becomes necessary for him to cross-examine his former client at trial. In response, Woodward asked the judge to block Taveras from testifying.
After De Oliveira was named in a superseding indictment that added the property manager as a defendant in the case, the government filed a conflicts motion involving another Washington-based lawyer who represents him, John Irving. According to prosecutors, a client represented by Irving is a witness who “has information demonstrating the falsity of statements De Oliveira has made to the government.”
The government’s conflict inquiries do not raise issues with the South Florida lawyers retained post-indictment to help represent the co-defendants, Sasha Dadan for Nauta, and Donnie Murrell Jr. for De Olivera.
And the witnesses mentioned by the government “need not appear” at the October hearings, Cannon wrote in a paperless order filed Monday in the court’s case docket.
Parts of the hearings may be private
In granting the government’s requests for hearings, Judge Cannon said that portions of hearings could be held behind closed doors.
“The Office of Special Counsel shall be prepared to articulate the nature and scope of the potential conflicts identified in its …Motions, along with any evidence in support,” she wrote. “Defendants shall be prepared to respond.
“At its discretion, the Court may elect to hold a portion of each hearing sealed and ex parte to protect privileged communications,” she added.
Prosecutors want the co-defendants to understand the “potential risks” of being represented by lawyers who also served potential prosecution witnesses.
Trump, Nauta and De Oliveira are all scheduled to stand trial on May 20, 2024. Trump is accused under the federal Espionage Act of improperly possessing classified materials — including some involving the national defense — after his term as president expired in January 2021. His two employees are accused of assisting his efforts to obstruct investigator efforts to retrieve the materials.
The former president and his co-defendants have all entered pleas of not guilty.