Prosecutor Jack Smith has severely criticized Donald Trump's valet for trying to delay his classified documents case for as long as possible.
Smith accused valet Walt Nauta of using ever-changing delay tactics in the trial of both Trump and Nauta, who are accused of hiding classified documents in Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
The former president is facing 40 federal charges over his handling of sensitive materials retrieved from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, after leaving the White House in January 2021. He is accused of obstructing efforts by federal authorities to return them. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Newsweek has contacted Trump's attorney via email for comment on Monday.
Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, a Mar-a-Lago maintenance worker, are accused of moving boxes of sensitive materials around Trump's Florida home to prevent federal agents from finding them and conspiring to delete security footage that had been sought under a subpoena.
Newsweek sought email comment from Nauta's attorney on Monday.
In his latest court filing, Smith accused Nauta of repeatedly switching reasons for delaying the trial, using every excuse from his lawyer's vacation to non-existent disclosure delays.
"Originally, Nauta had counted on leveraging his counsel's vacation and trial schedule to delay the proceedings. But when his counsel's trial schedule excuse evaporated, Nauta was forced to devise a new basis—that the Government's discovery is insufficient," Smith wrote.
He added that Nauta has been given the discovery documents plus additional material to help sort and read them.
"Nauta's latest basis for delay is...factually wrong—the Government has afforded Nauta technical support, indexing, and material not required by the Federal Rules or provided in most criminal cases," Smith wrote.
"In his motion, Nauta resorts to a familiar tactic by trying to paint a confusing and misleading picture of the state of discovery," he wrote.
Smith then complains that Nauta will not announce which classified documents he wishes to introduce into evidence unless prosecutors tell him which documents were found in the Mar-a-Lago storage room and also, more specifically, "where those documents were found in the boxes."
"Both claims are flawed," Smith wrote, adding that Nauta was provided information about which boxes were in the storage room "many months ago."
In addition, Nauta's demand to know where exactly in the boxes each document was found "is recently manufactured and not credible."
In late April, the court released FBI interview notes with a former White House employee who said that Trump has promised Nauta a pardon if elected president.
The FBI notes of the November 2022 interview, "Nauta was also told that even if he gets charged with lying to the FBI, FPOTUS will pardon him in 2024." FPOTUS is an abbreviation for Former President Of The United States.
Smith complained to the court that Trump is deliberately delaying the trial until after the 2024 presidential election.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
fairness meter
To Rate This Article
About the writer
Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more
