According to a source familiar with the investigation, the IT employee at Mar-a-Lago who implicated Donald Trump and two of his aides in an alleged pressure campaign to delete security camera footage will not face perjury charges after amending his testimony. Yuscil Taveras, known as “Trump Employee 4,” was assured by federal prosecutors that he is no longer the target of a criminal probe into whether he lied about his knowledge of the efforts to delete the footage. Taveras changed his testimony after receiving a target letter from special counsel Jack Smith and switching lawyers. The former attorney’s potential conflict of interest with one of Trump’s aides and co-defendant, Walt Nauta, raised questions about his representation of Taveras. Taveras’ current attorney declined to comment on the matter.
In July, Trump, Nauta, and another Mar-a-Lago employee, Carlos De Oliveira, were charged with attempting to pressure Taveras to delete the footage, which prosecutors sought in relation to the movement of boxes believed to contain sensitive government records within the resort. Taveras did not comply with their requests, and the footage was not erased. All three defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges. Earlier this year, Trump and Nauta were charged with additional counts, including alleged retention of national defense information and obstruction of the federal probe.
Prosecutors anticipate calling Taveras as a government witness at the trial, scheduled for May 2024. They acknowledged that Taveras may face cross-examination regarding his inconsistent statements in his grand jury testimony, which he recanted after obtaining new legal representation.
The details of Taveras’ testimony were first reported by ABC News. Prosecutors have requested the judge overseeing the case to investigate potential conflicts of interest involving Taveras’ former attorney, Stanley Woodward, who also represents Nauta. They argue that using a grand jury in Washington, D.C., to obtain Taveras’ testimony was appropriate since the alleged perjury occurred in the capital. The term of the grand jury expired in August.
The spokesperson for special counsel Jack Smith declined to comment on the matter.
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