Special counsel Jack Smith, left, has admitted not providing all evidence to former President Donald Trump's legal team.
Smith has brought a total of 40 counts against Trump, accusing him of unlawfully retaining classified documents after leaving office and lying to the government about handing over all documents.
On July 27, Smith’s team filed a “superseding indictment” which further accused Trump of instructing his security staff to delete security tapes from his Mar-a-Lago resort only a couple of months before the FBI raided the Florida residence, Newsweek reported.
Others named in the indictment include Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira and Trump aide Waltine “Walt” Nauta.
According to prosecutors, it was De Oliveira who told a Mar-a-Lago employee that “the boss” wanted a security server erased.
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Now, it appears that Smith is the one withholding security footage.
In a July 31 court filing, Smith’s team admitted that they failed to upload video footage taken from Mar-a-Lago to an online platform where Trump’s defense team could review it, as required by law, according to Newsweek.
“On July 27, as part of the preparation for the superseding indictment coming later that day and the discovery production for Defendant De Oliveira, the Government learned that this footage had not been processed and uploaded to the platform established for the defense to view the subpoenaed footage,” read the filing.
It continued: “The Government’s representation at the July 18 hearing that all surveillance footage the Government had obtained pre-indictment had been produced was therefore incorrect.”
The Brady rule is a legal standard that requires the prosecution to provide the defense with any exculpatory information that will be brought against them in court.Smith’s team acknowledged this in last week’s court filing, writing: “The Government is aware of its continuing duty to disclose such newly discovered additional information.”
When Smith’s team first announced the superseding indictment, Trump’s campaign responded by calling it a “desperate and flailing attempt” to prevent the former President from running for office again in 2024, the Epoch Times reported.
“Deranged Jack Smith knows that they have no case and is casting about for any way to salvage their illegal witch hunt and to get someone other than Donald Trump to run against Crooked Joe Biden,” his campaign said at the time, according to the Times.
Trump is currently the top contender for the Republican presidential nomination, with most polls showing him far ahead of competitors like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence.
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