On Thursday, July 6, former President Donald Trump’s former aide Walt Nauta pleaded not guilty to multiple offenses related to the alleged mismanagement of classified material at Mar-a-Lago. Nauta was charged with multiple federal counts of conspiring with Mr. Trump to obstruct the government’s protracted efforts to retrieve a large quantity of highly sensitive national security documents left behind by the former president.
According to the Associated Press, after having difficulty retaining a counsel licensed in the state, Nauta engaged a new attorney based in Florida to represent him in this case.
Last month, the 40-year-old Navy veteran from Guam was indicted alongside Donald Trump on 38 counts of conspiracy, making false statements, and withholding documents. However, he was not arraigned alongside Trump on June 13 because Woodwaed had not yet retained a Florida-licensed attorney.
After being charged with Trump last month for the alleged mismanagement of classified documents, Nauta’s arraignment was postponed multiple times due to travel and legal issues.
Walt Nauta’s not-guilty plea was presented by an attorney from Washington, Stanley Woodward Jr. He pled not guilty to accusations of obstruction and concealment. This occurred during a brief arraignment in Miami’s Federal District Court. Woodward was with the previously mentioned Florida attorney, Sasha Dadan.
Former public defender Dadan has limited experience with federal courts. Her name does not exist in the nationwide database of federal cases known as PACER. She has handled several local cases in Fort Pierce, Florida, however. This is where Judge Aileen M. Cannon, the judge supervising the prosecution, resides and where the trial between former President Donald Trump and Nauta may ultimately be held.
In 2018, Ms. Daden organized an unsuccessful campaign for the Florida House of Representatives, continuing her recent involvement in Republican politics.
Walt Nauta was charged with these offenses on the basis of footage disclosed earlier this week in a less redacted version of the FBI’s affidavit, which was used to obtain the Mar-a-Lago search warrant. The indictment was filed by Jack Smith’s office as special counsel. During a critical period – the weeks between the issuance of a subpoena in May 2022 ordering the return of all classified documents in the former president’s possession and a visit to Mar-a-Lago by federal prosecutors seeking to enforce the subpoena and seize all the materials they have been asking for – Nauta frequently moved boxes at Trump’s request in and out of the storage room in his Mar-a-Lago home and private club.
The indictment states that Nauta removed up to sixty-four boxes from the storage room in those critical weeks but reportedly only brought back around thirty. The rest being unaccounted for and seemingly gone. All of this happened before one of Trump’s lawyers, M. Evan Corcoran could sort through the remaining material in the storage room in order to find any classified material that may have been left behind and turn it over to the government. CONTINUE READING…