An IT director from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort has changed his legal course to implicate the former president in the classified files case against him, according to court filings.
Yuscil Taveras appears to have changed his story after choosing to replace his attorney who had been funded by Trump’s Save America PAC.
He is now represented by a public defender and court filings indicate he is now cooperating with Special Counsel Jack Smith over charges against Trump that he mishandled classified documents.
Former aide and White House valet Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago head of maintenance Carlos de Oliveira are charged alongside Trump.
The new filing states: “Immediately after receiving new counsel (Taveras) 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.”
Meanwhile in Georgia two of Trump’s allies have handed themselves in to the authorities over an indictment that alleges a conspiracy to manipulate the 2020 election results.
Trump’s former lawyer John Eastman and Republican poll watcher Scott Hall both surrendered to the county sheriff’s office, according to officials.
Trump himself is expected to be arrested on Thursday.
The front-runner for the Republican 2024 White House nomination, who now faces four criminal indictments and has been convicted of rape in a civil trial, denies any wrongdoing and says he is a victim of a political “witch hunt”.
The remaining 17 defendants named in the Georgia indictment will surrender by Friday, the county sheriff’s office said.
Trump on Monday agreed to post a $200,000 (£157,774) bond and accepted bail conditions that would bar him from threatening co-defendants or witnesses in the case.
Prosecutors are seeking a trial in March, but the number of defendants and complexity of the case could lead to delays.
Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff, sought last week to move the case to federal court and dismiss it on the grounds he is immune from prosecution for actions he took as a federal official.
Mr Meadows asked to delay his surrender until after a hearing in federal court on Monday but Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said she would seek his arrest if he does not turn himself in by Friday afternoon.
Trump has also been charged in Washington, DC, over his efforts to overturn the election, in Florida over his handling of classified documents upon leaving office, and in New York over a hush money payment to a porn star.
