The grand jury testimony of Donald Trump's valet is to be made public under an order by Judge Aileen Cannon, after a months of argument over its release.
Both Trump and valet Walt Nauta had wanted the testimony released, in opposition to prosecutor, Jack Smith, who feared an unredacted version would identify witnesses in the Florida classified documents case.
Smith previously told Cannon he did not want potential witnesses to be intimidated.
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 he left 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.
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. Nauta and De Oliveira have pleaded not guilty to all federal charges against them, including conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Newsweek have contacted the attorneys of Trump, Nauta and De Oliveira via email for comment
A representative group for media organizations had sided in court with Trump and Nauta in seeking the release of the unredacted grand jury testimony.
A grand jury comprises members of the public who are asked to decide if charges should be brought in a case. According to Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute, a grand jury witness "is asked to appear before the grand jury, since they may have some information or knowledge about a matter under consideration by the grand jury."
"The grand jury inquiries are conducted in secret so only the witness, attorneys, an interpreter when needed, and a court reporter to transcribe the testimony, will be involved in the procedure."
It wasn't until the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago on August 8, 2022, that 11,000 more presidential records that Trump had allegedly not declared were recovered.
According to a prosecution document filed in court in September, 2022, the FBI raid uncovered 18 top secret documents; 54 secret documents; 31 marked as confidential and 11,179 government documents or photographs that were without classification markings.
After months of wrangling, Cannon ordered the public release of Nauta's testimony, with redactions to hide the names of FBI agents and others who are likely to testify. However, it will not hide the names of non-witnesses.
Cannon refused a recent attempt by Nauta's lawyers to file the grand jury testimony because the redactions were not complete.
On April 28, Cannon ordered that Nauta "shall publicly file the transcript of his grand jury testimony taken on June 21, 2022, with limited redactions."
"Defendant Nauta filed an unredacted version of the transcript … but this failed to comply with the court's instructions," she wrote.
Cannon released a redacted version of the FBI's questioning of Nauta on April 11.
That, too, came after months of legal argument about what material should be redacted.
The transcript shows that Nauta told FBI agents that the National Archive sent a huge truck to pick up the large amount of presidential papers that Trump had stored at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
The truck arrived on January 17, 2022 and was so large that it couldn't fit through Mar-a-Lago's gates and had to wait outside.
In the end, Trump allowed only 15 boxes to be placed on the truck.
Nauta and another unnamed employee then took the documents from Pine Hall, an entry room to the Trump family suite, and loaded them in a car.
They then drove the car to the truck waiting outside Mar-a-Lago.
Nauta made the disclosure in an interview with the FBI in May, 2022.
That interview has now been made public by Cannon after she agreed with prosecutors that the names of the FBI agents should be redacted from the interview transcript.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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
