A Mar-a-Lago IT worker struck a cooperation deal with prosecutors investigating former President Trump’s handling of classified records at his Florida home, according to a filing from his former attorney.
It was already known Yuscil Taveras had flipped in the case after prosecutors working with special counsel Jack Smith pushed the IT worker to speak with an outside attorney.
But the filing from his former attorney makes explicit that Taveras will not face prosecution on perjury charges after initially giving false information to investigators.
The filing from attorney Stanley Woodward comes as prosecutors are again asking the court to hold a so-called Garcia hearing to evaluate his representation of Walt Nauta, Trump’s co-defendant in the case.
Taveras — whose testimony led to a superseding indictment accusing Trump, Nauta and the Mar-a-Lago property manager of attempting to delete security footage at the property — is expected to testify in the case.
Woodward, however, has argued his testimony should be barred, complaining about Justice Department dealings with Taveras.
Woodward wrote in the filing that he played “no role” in the Taveras decision, and he lashed out at the Justice Department (DOJ) for offering immunity only once the IT worker consulted with a court-appointed public defender.
“It is telling that the Non-Prosecution Agreement it ultimately offered Trump Employee 4 was not offered before the District Court had agreed to appoint ‘conflict counsel,’” Woodward wrote, using the identifier DOJ assigned Taveras.
Woodward, whose services have been paid for by Trump, is battling an effort by the Justice Department to hold a similar hearing with Nauta.
Prosecutors are likewise seeking a Garcia hearing with Carlos De Oliveira, the third co-defendant in the Mar-a-Lago case.