Daniel Goldman, a former federal prosecutor and former counsel for the first impeachment against then-President Donald Trump who now serves as a Democratic Congressman from New York City, stopped by ABC’s This Week with host Jonathan Karl on Sunday, arguing that new allegations implicating Trump in a scheme to keep security footage from federal investigators are condemning.
“Well, it’s very serious,” Goldman argued, specifically regarding the new charges. “Less because of the additional defendant I think, but more because it demonstrates Donald Trump’s knowledge of what his conduct was and how wrong it was and that he was trying to obstruct the investigation that he knew was ongoing. That is quintessential consciousness of guilt, which shows that he knew what he was doing was wrong.”
Trump was specifically dealt additional criminal charges in the case that had already been brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith related to the former president’s admitted — and allegedly improper — retention of highly sensitive documents from his time in power. The new charges add both another count of unlawful retention and the allegations of obstruction that cover the security footage matter.
As recapped throughout media reports, Trump is accused of involvement in an attempt to avoid compliance with federal demands for security footage from his Florida resort Mar-a-Lago, where many of those sensitive files were stored following Trump’s time in office. The new allegations in the documents case also include charges against a third individual after Trump and aide Walt Nauta, with that additional person — Carlos De Oliveira — having allegedly admonished another staff member working on Mar-a-Lago matters that Trump was eager for deleting the footage. The new allegation of unlawful retention of documents has been tied to file ostensibly prepared to outline hypothetical military plans against Iran, materials Trump allegedly showed to unauthorized third parties.
The new charges in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case “demonstrates Donald Trump’s knowledge of what his conduct was and how wrong it was,” Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman tells @JonKarl.
“That is quintessential consciousness of guilt.” https://t.co/rzyzLX2U7K pic.twitter.com/wcHKhaDlhe
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) July 30, 2023
