Donald Trump won’t turn himself in to authorities in Fulton County until tomorrow, but there were plenty of developments yesterday in the criminal indictments surrounding the former president and his allies. Republican lawyer John Eastman, for example, was among the Trump confederates who surrendered to authorities, and the local sheriff’s office released his mug shot to the public last night.
It was also yesterday when former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows’ lawyer heard back from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who told the Republican she doesn’t intend to grant any “extensions” to her Friday noon deadline for voluntary surrenders.
But perhaps the most notable news was unrelated to the charges pending in Georgia. As NBC News reported, there are new revelations related to Trump’s classified documents scandal.
A key witness against former President Donald Trump and his two co-defendants in the Mar-a-Lago documents case recanted previous false testimony and provided new information implicating the defendants after he switched lawyers, special counsel Jack Smith’s office said in a new court filing.
Yuscil Taveras may not have a household name, but he’s a relevant figure in the documents case. After all, thanks to a filing from federal prosecutors, we now know it was Taveras, the director of information technology at Mar-a-Lago, who changed his testimony about efforts to delete security camera footage at the former president’s glorified country club.
The same court filing added that when Taveras delivered false testimony, he was represented by a lawyer who was paid by Trump’s Save America PAC. When the Mar-a-Lago employee switched to a public defender, he apparently decided to revise his testimony: After originally telling a grand jury that he didn’t remember having any conversations regarding security footage, Taveras, under the guidance of new counsel, then clarified his recollections.
NBC News’ report added that Taveras “decided to change lawyers after he learned he was being investigated on suspicion of having made false statements in his previous grand jury testimony in Washington, D.C.,” according to court filings.
The result was an unexpected superseding indictment that alleged that Trump was part of a scheme to delete security video as part of a cover-up attempt.
Update: Let's not forget that we've seen this dynamic before. As part of the Jan. 6 investigation, Cassidy Hutchinson also dropped her Trump-affiliated lawyer, at which point she also became far more forthcoming.