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UPDATE (July 31, 2023, 11:26 a.m. ET): Carlos De Oliveira, the newly indicted defendant in special counsel Jack Smith's classified documents case, appeared in court on Monday. He was unable to enter a plea because he had not secured local counsel to represent him in Florida and will instead be arraigned on Aug. 10, NBC News reported.
The judge read the four charges against De Oliveira and his rights before setting the signature bond at $100,000. Because De Oliveira has not secured local counsel to represent him in Florida, he was asked to return for his arraignment next month.
Carlos De Oliveira’s first scheduled court appearance Monday might not move Donald Trump's classified documents case forward. John Irving, who represents Trump’s newly indicted co-defendant, told me Sunday that he didn't expect his client to have local counsel prior to Monday's hearing.
Irving, who isn't admitted to practice in the Florida federal district where De Oliveira is charged, told NBC News on Sunday that they were "working on ascertaining local counsel."
If indeed that counsel has not been ascertained by the appearance set for 10:30 a.m. in Miami, it might be a quick and uneventful hearing whose main significance is how much leeway De Oliveira and Irving get to find local counsel, and what court date is set next.
Recall what happened with Trump’s other co-defendant, Walt Nauta, whose failure to secure local counsel led to his arraignment — and thus the case itself — being delayed for weeks until Nauta was finally arraigned and pleaded not guilty on July 6. Trump had already pleaded not guilty on June 13.
In more normal cases, getting arraigned and getting local counsel are more administrative matters that don't necessarily affect the trajectory of the case. Here, of course, the 2024 election that could give Trump the power to thwart this case if he wins forms the backdrop.
To be sure, De Oliveira was only just indicted late last week. So it's too soon to say if this will be a Nauta-type situation. If there is a delay Monday, the question will be how much of one. De Oliveira is set to appear before a magistrate judge — as Trump and Nauta did for their arraignments — not Judge Aileen Cannon, who is overseeing the case.
Of course, Cannon recently set a May 2024 trial date for Trump and Nauta, before De Oliveira entered the picture. Even then, the date wasn’t a sure thing, given the inevitable delays that Trump would at the very least be pushing for as it nears.
So in addition to it building an even stronger case against Trump, special counsel Jack Smith’s superseding indictment and addition of another defendant makes that trial date even less certain. Though, as Smith’s team argued in a filing alongside the superseding indictment, there’s no reason the current trial schedule has to change just because of the new charges and defendant.
But if that new defendant starts off his case with a delay of his own, that May date is even more imperiled.