George Conway Offers Legal Advice to Trump Co-Defendant: ‘Cooperate’

Conservative lawyer George Conway is offering his legal advice to a recently indicted co-defendant in the federal classified documents case against Donald Trump.

Conway appeared on CNN on Monday to talk about the expanded indictment of the former president and two of his employees. During the interview, Conway addressed the newest co-defendant, Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos de Oliveira, who was charged on Thursday for allegedly participating in a plot to destroy evidence of concealing classified documents, then lying about it to investigators.

Sharing what he would advise de Oliveira if given the chance, Conway said, “I’d tell him to plead guilty and cooperate with the government. I think the case looks very strong against him.”

The superseding indictment alleges that de Oliveira, 56, helped secretly move boxes of documents at Mar-a-Lago before telling another resort employee that “the boss” wanted to delete a server containing surveillance footage. When questioned by the FBI, de Oliveira allegedly said he was unaware of any boxes being moved and “never saw anything.”

De Oliveira has been charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice; altering, destroying, mutilating or concealing an object; corruptly altering, destroying, mutilating, or concealing a document, record or other object; and false statements and representations. He is expected to enter a plea in federal court on Aug. 10.

Addressing the allegations against the property manager, Conway told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, “The fact that he was talking to somebody who then refused to assist him in destruction of the videos, erasing the server, deleting the server, as ‘the boss’ had asked for, is very, very damning testimony.”

Conway added that de Oliveira should have listened to the employee who said they could not delete the footage instead of allegedly continuing to help Trump conceal the documents.

“At this point, he ought to cooperate,” he recommended. “The problem he has is, there’s so much evidence against Donald Trump.” 

The lawyer went on to say that although he has never been a prosecutor, he imagines that it would be helpful in convicting Trump to have de Oliveira “on the stand” to confirm that the former president requested the footage be destroyed after receiving the initial subpoena.

Trump had been accused of 32 counts of willful retention of national defense information (a violation of the Espionage Act); one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice; one count of withholding a document or record; one count of corruptly concealing a document or record; one count of concealing a document in a federal investigation; one count of scheme to conceal; and one count of false statements and representations. He has pleaded not guilty to all counts.

On Thursday, the former president was also charged with one additional count of willful retention of national defense information and two additional obstruction counts.

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Trump’s federal criminal trial has been scheduled for late-May 2024 — right at the tail end of the GOP’s presidential primary season.

The trial date had initially been set for Aug. 14, 2023, which likely would have seen court proceedings wrap before primary voting begins. But attorneys on both sides sought to delay it, with special counsel Jack Smith seeking a December 2023 trial and Trump seeking a trial after the 2024 presidential election.

In a recent court order, Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon, who is overseeing the case, noted the sheer amount of evidence turned over by prosecutors necessitated more time, hence setting the date for May.

Proceedings will now take place after several GOP presidential primaries in which Trump is running. The former president, who is currently leading in the polls against his Republican competitors, could even be the presumptive party nominee by then, as most states will have already cast ballots.

Each of the charges against the former president carries potential prison sentences, with the obstruction charges carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years per count. Violating the Espionage Act carries a maximum sentence of up to 10 years, and both the conspiracy and false statements charges carry sentences of up to five years per offense.