stand by.
We are following, of course, all
of these details coming out of
this very historic first
televised hearing in the Georgia
election case, but we also have
breaking news in the federal,
the federal documents players
and one key player has flipped
against former president trump
and is cooperating with the
special counsel jack Smith's
office that according to the
former defense attorney from
mar-a-lago employee Tavares who
has agreed to testify in the
case in that he will not,
repeat, not be prosecuted.
Carlos de Oliveira were
initially suspected of giving
false testimony after denying
allegations that they tried to
erase incriminating security
camera footage.
Tavares has not yet been
charged.
This filing marks the first
public acknowledgement that the
special counsel jack Smith has
won the cooperation of a key
witness in this case against
trump, his one-time valet, Walt
nauta and Carlos de Oliveira.
Our panel is back and we'vbeen
covering this for a while.
What does this mean for the
special counsel's case?
>> You just said this is
significant because this is the
first acknowledgement the
special counsel has secured the
cooperation of a key witness.
Mr. Tavares, he oversaw the
security footage at mar-a-lago.
We know the security and the
surveillance footage is a key
part of this case because there
are allegations that there were
efforts to destroy it or at
least conceal it.
So we've also learned that one
of the things that prompted this
cooperation deal was the threat
of prosecution.
He was threatened with possibly
being prosecuted and so in
exchange for not facing charges,
he has agreed to testify in this
case, and that's interesting
because we also know Walt nauta,
the former president's
co-defendant also faced the
threat of prosecution, but he
did not flip which is part of
how he became the former
president's co-defendant.
One other thing that will
complicate this is Walt nauta
and Mr. Tavares were at one time
represented by the same person,
Stan Woodward.
He is a frequent character in
this case.
He represents a lot of people.
He is paid by a trump-aligned
political action committee.
So once Tavares decided to sort
of change the story that he was
giving prosecutors, agreed to
cooperate, right before that he
changed lawyers.
So he is no longer represented
by Stan Woodward, but it still
could be an issue, particularly
if he was to testify at trial.
He could possibly be cross
examined by his previous lawyer,
so that's something that the
judge is seeking briefings on.
That's something they'll have to
work out.
But this is a significant
development in the mar-a-lago
docs case.
>> Very significant.
A lot of the information, Laura,
as you and I know read it and
came in as document and it has
been released and the southern
district of Florida, west palm
beach division the United States
of America versus Donald J.
Trump and Walt nauta, and how
significant is this new
revelation as far as trump
specifically in the classified
documents is concerned?
>> Well, this is a person as we
learned from the initial
indictment that somebody went to
him under the advice and the
direction of the former
president to tell him what to do
about the footage and this could
be someone to tell us what the
conversation of the like.
We're still looking and trying
to piece together the pieces
unlike jack Smith's team who we
must know before indicting
someone at mar-a-lago.
What was said?
What is the corroborating
evidence to bring an indictment
and let alone bring it at trial.
Having a key witness and having
someone that will tell you what
came from the proverbial horse's
mouth is immeasurably important
in any prosecution, and if you
do not continue to cooperate,
then that indictment for
yourself could also be looming.
So this person has every
insensitive to be truthful and
has every incentive to remain
credible and to be forthcoming
with anything else that might
happen.
I have to scratch my head as
well and wonder clearly the
identity of this person was
known to Donald Trump and Walt
nauta and Carlos de Oliveira, as
well, have any of the
conversations sur rounding
potential intimidation and could
they be identifying people or
not?
Is that part of why jack Smith's
team wants it to be known there
is a cooperator and until now we
haven't heard about them maybe
for that very reason.
>> To publicly make clear --
>> Shield.
>> To make clear to the former
president back off on him.
It is so interesting and Sara
has covered so much about Donald
Trump, politically, legally and
everything in between that his
M.O. And we've seen this, the
most infamous example has been
Michael Cohen is to keep people
who know things or potentially
know things as close as they
possibly can and this one got
away and this one has to know a
lot or else the prosecutor
wouldn't have given him the
deal.
>> We aren't learning this
because jack Smith wanted to
share this with us and we are
learning about this because
there is this dispute about
Stanley Woodward, the attorney
at the center, whether there is
a conflict involving him and
that's why this is coming up in
the filings is to note that now
there is this cooperation
agreement with Tavares that
according to Stan Woodward, at least, that this was not a
cooperation deal that was on the
table when representing Tavares.
Dana, to your point, trump has
been able to keep a lot of
people in the fold, in this
case, people who do have a lot
to lose and Walt nauta and
Carlos de Oliveira, and to see
Tavares break away and get his
own attorney and move away from
the cushiness of the trump
pac-funded lawyers.
>> Very quickly, this is a
nightmare for trump that some of
his co-defendants will flip,
begin to cooperate against him.
>> Of course, and to Dana's
point, after what happened to