Former President Donald Trump was banned from speaking with a host of potential witnesses including his co-defendant, Walt Nauta, a White House military valet and Mar-a-Lago “body man” who was also charged in Jack Smith’s special counsel case.
Trump and Nauta both pleaded not guilty in a Miami courtroom on Tuesday. The judge overseeing the historic arraignment reportedly said Trump could not have further contact with Nauta.
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Nauta followed Trump to his Florida resort home of Mar-a-Lago after the former president lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden, and the Trump aide arrived at the Miami federal courthouse on Tuesday in the same SUV as the former president. Nauta has stood by Donald Trump — figuratively and literally — following the indictment, including joining Trump on his post-indictment campaign swings in Georgia and North Carolina on Saturday.
Smith unsealed an unprecedented indictment Friday, alleging Trump unlawfully kept classified documents — including on nuclear secrets and military vulnerabilities — and stored the sensitive material in boxes in his bathroom, shower, and elsewhere in his Florida home. Trump and his co-defendant Nauta appeared together in court Tuesday afternoon, where both denied the charges against them during an initial appearance and arraignment.
Trump pleaded not guilty through his attorneys first, followed by Nauta.
Nauta allegedly moved around boxes at Mar-a-Lago which contained government records that Trump had retained after leaving the White House.
Nauta — whose full name is Waltine Torre Nauta — is from Guam and joined the Navy in 2001. Despite urging from the Justice Department, he had declined to cooperate with Smith in the investigation into Trump.
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Trump pleaded not guilty to 31 counts for the willful retention of national defense information, one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, one count of withholding a document or record, one count of corruptly concealing a document or record, one count of concealing a document in a federal investigation, one count for a scheme to conceal, and one count related to alleged false statements.
Nauta pleaded not guilty to six criminal counts — conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding of a document or record, corruptly concealing a document or record, concealing a document in a federal investigation, scheme to conceal, and a false statements charge.
