Appearing on MSNBC on Sunday morning with host Ali Velshi, former Donald Trump lawyer Micheal Cohen suggested that a Mar-a-Lago employee now under indictment for his involvement in a plot to destroy evidence may have been unaware he was being ordered to break the law.
Taking up the case of Carlos De Oliviera, described by the Washington Post as a “a middle-aged property manager” who has worked at Mar-a-Lag for years, Cohen told the host that the former president likely used his longtime employee, thereby putting him in legal peril.
Asked why De Oliveira and Trump aide Walt Nauta have not been forthcoming with Department of Justice investigators, he replied, “These two gentlemen are very perplexing because they are not executives. One of them is a property manager; he enjoys that the place looks good. First and foremost, the first thing we have to understand is Mar-a-Lago is not Donald Trump’s residence. It was once the residence, a magnificent residence of Marjorie Merriweather Post. For Donald Trump, it’s a social club. Now he may live there but it’s not his residence, it’s a social club.”
“I see that one of them has worked there for an excess of two decades so for him it’s financial,” he continued. “On top of that, I’m not so sure that he knew. Again, he is not in the inner circle so the question is did he know that there was a subpoena, there was a retention letter?”
“Or did Donald just use him like a castaway? Did he just use him for the sole purpose of moving the boxes without the guy actually even knowing what he was doing? He was following the boss’s orders, ” he added.
Watch below or at the link.
MSNBC 07 30 2023 10 04 22
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