Walt Nauta

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Storage room with document boxes at Mar-a-Lago Classified documents at Mar-a-Lago 867c328616652a2ce0727e8e90c9df1d.png
Storage room with document boxes at Mar-a-Lago

Nauta was called as a witness in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigation into Donald Trump's handling of government documents; the investigation began in 2022. [2] Investigators with the independent special counsel investigation led by Jack Smith came to doubt Nauta's account of his activities, and beginning in fall 2022 considered whether to charge him with crimes. [15] [16] Nauta declined to cooperate with prosecutors, and on May 24, 2023, the special counsel formally notified Nauta that he was a target of the investigation. [16] [17]

On June 8, 2023, Nauta was co-indicted with Trump by a federal grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, based in Miami. Nauta was indicted on six counts: conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document or record, corruptly concealing a document in a federal investigation, scheme to conceal, and making false statements and representations. [18] [19] [20]

According to the indictment, in the waning days of Trump's term in office, both Trump and Nauta packed items from the White House to ship to Mar-a-Lago. [1] The indictment also alleged that, after a federal grand jury issued a subpoena in May 2022 requiring the return of the government documents, Nauta assisted Trump in concealing documents from the grand jury, the FBI, and Trump's own lawyers. [10] [21] On July 27, a superseding indictment [22] was filed with two new counts of obstruction against Nauta, bringing the total counts against Nauta to eight. [4]

The federal magistrate judge twice postponed Nauta's arraignment so Stanley Woodward —Nauta's Washington, D.C. lawyer, whose fees were paid by Trump's Save America political action committee —could find local counsel admitted to practice in the Southern District of Florida with whom to work, as required by court rules. (Woodward was not a member of the local court bar, and thus was appearing pro hac vice .) [23] [24] [25] [26] [27]

Following extensive pre-trial motions; in July 2024, Judge Cannon held that the Justice Department appointed special counsel Jack Smith illegally. Smith ended the criminal case against Trump after his November presidential election win but appealed the dismissal of Nauta and De Olivera. On February 11, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit dismissed the case upon the federal prosecutor's request. [28] [5]

Trump second term

Nauta continued working with Donald Trump during his second term in office. In March 2025, Trump nominated Nauta to serve on the board of visitors for the U.S. Naval Academy. [29]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Ainsley, Julia; Haake, Garrett; Edelman, Adam; O'Donnell, Kelly (June 9, 2023). "Trump aide Walt Nauta also indicted in classified documents case". NBC News. Archived from the original on June 10, 2023. Retrieved June 10, 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Helderman, Rosalind S.; Ye Hee Lee, Michelle; Dawsey, Josh; Harris, Shane; Parker, Ashley; Barrett, Devlin (March 18, 2023). "The aide who stayed: Walt Nauta, key witness in Trump documents case". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on March 30, 2023. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  3. ↑ Gomez Licon, Adriana; Tucker, Eric (July 6, 2023). "Trump Valet Charged In Classified Documents Case Set Again For Arraignment". HuffPost. Retrieved July 6, 2023.
  4. 1 2 Mangan, Dan; Breuninger, Kevin (July 27, 2023). "Trump hit with new charges in classified documents case, third defendant added". CNBC. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  5. 1 2 Quinn, Melissa; Legare, Robert (February 11, 2025). "Court formally dismisses case against Trump's co-defendants in Mar-a-Lago documents probe - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved February 14, 2025.
  6. ↑ Bevan Hurley (June 14, 2023). "Who is Donald Trump's indicted 'body man' Walt Nauta?". The Independent. Archived from the original on June 14, 2023. Retrieved June 16, 2023.
  7. ↑ Bailey, Chelsea (June 9, 2023). "Who is Walt Nauta, the aide charged alongside Donald Trump?". BBC News . Archived from the original on June 13, 2023. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
  8. ↑ McLaughlin, Kelly (June 13, 2023). "Meet Waltine Nauta, Trump's 'Diet Coke valet' who's now his co-defendant on federal charges". Yahoo News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on June 9, 2023. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
  9. 1 2 Ballhaus, Rebecca (June 10, 2023). "Walt Nauta, Trump's Valet, Charged Alongside His Boss". Wall Street Journal . Archived from the original on June 10, 2023. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
  10. 1 2 O'Kane, Caitlin (June 9, 2023). "Who is Walt Nauta — and why was the Trump aide also indicted in the documents case?". CBS News . Archived from the original on June 9, 2023. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  11. 1 2 3 Barrett, Devlin (October 13, 2022). "Key Mar-a-Lago witness said to be former White House employee". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 18, 2023. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  12. ↑ Hurley, Bevan (June 14, 2023). "Who is Walt Nauta? Donald Trump's 'body man' charged over classified documents". The Independent. Archived from the original on June 14, 2023. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  13. ↑ "Trump Hired Diet Coke Valet Despite Sexual Misconduct Claims". February 2, 2024.
  14. ↑ Hartmann, Margaret (March 21, 2023). "Diet Coke Valet Is Trump's Most Loyal Aide". New York Magazine: "Intelligencer". Archived from the original on June 10, 2023. Retrieved June 10, 2023.
  15. ↑ Haberman, Maggie; Goldman, Adam; Feuer, Alan; Protess, Ben; Schmidt, Michael S. (May 4, 2023). "Justice Dept. Intensifying Efforts to Determine if Trump Hid Documents sex". The New York Times . Archived from the original on May 5, 2023. Retrieved June 10, 2023.
  16. 1 2 Haberman, Maggie (June 10, 2023). "Who Is Walt Nauta, the Other Person Indicted Along With Trump?". The New York Times. Vol. 172, no. 59815. p. A13. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on June 10, 2023. Retrieved June 10, 2023.
  17. ↑ Samuels, Brett; Beitsch, Rebecca; Schonfeld, Zach; Gans, Jared (June 9, 2023). "Five major revelations from Trump's federal indictment". The Hill . Archived from the original on June 9, 2023. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  18. ↑ "Indictment; United States of America v. Donald J. Trump and Waltine Nauta" (PDF). commons.wikimedia.org . June 9, 2023. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 10, 2023. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  19. ↑ Perez, Evan; Murray, Sara; Sneed, Tierney; Herb, Jeremy (June 9, 2023). "Trump aide Walt Nauta indicted in classified documents case". CNN . Archived from the original on June 9, 2023. Retrieved June 10, 2023.
  20. ↑ Meyer, Josh (June 9, 2023). "Trump aide Walt Nauta indicted in classified docs case. Who is he?". USA Today . Archived from the original on June 10, 2023. Retrieved June 10, 2023.
  21. ↑ Stein, Perry; Hsu, Spencer S.; Dawsey, Josh (June 9, 2023). "Trump and his valet Walt Nauta: Forever linked as codefendants". The Washington Post. Vol. 146. pp. A1 and A5. Archived from the original on June 10, 2023. Retrieved June 10, 2023.
  22. ↑ "U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida" (PDF). July 27, 2023.
  23. ↑ Bower, Anna (June 27, 2023). "The Arraignment That Wasn't". Lawfare. Retrieved June 27, 2023.
  24. ↑ Summary of the day, The Guardian (June 13, 2023).
  25. ↑ Graham, David A. (June 15, 2023). "Trump's Bag Man". The Atlantic . Archived from the original on June 15, 2023. Retrieved June 16, 2023.
  26. ↑ Devlin Barrett and Perry Stein (June 27, 2023). "Arraignment for Trump aide Nauta delayed as he searches for lawyer," The Washington Post.
  27. ↑ "Not Miami? Donald Trump's Trial Seems Set to Move to a Quiet Florida Town". Daily Business Review. June 21, 2023. Archived from the original on June 21, 2023. Retrieved June 21, 2023.
  28. ↑ Tucker, Tucker (January 29, 2025). "Justice Department drops criminal proceedings against Trump co-defendants in classified records case". Associated Press . Retrieved February 14, 2025.
  29. ↑ Bianco, Ali (March 8, 2025). "Trump names Walt Nauta, co-defendant in classified documents case, other allies to Naval Academy board". Politico . Retrieved July 5, 2025.
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Walt Nauta
Walt Nauta (P20250415DT-0248).jpg
Nauta in 2025
Director of White House
Oval Office Operations
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 20, 2025