Recently unsealed court filings revealed that Donald Trump’s valet at Mar-a-Lago, Walt Nauta, randomly chose boxes of documents to return to the National Archives in 2022. Trump directed that dozens of additional boxes at the resort wouldn’t be returned. Nauta testified to a grand jury about the boxes he had taken from Mar-a-Lago’s storage room in January 2022, and he confirmed that Trump was involved in the process of selecting boxes for review before returning them to the Archives.
Both Nauta and another witness, whose identity is not publicly known, stated that Trump directed not to give the National Archives any more boxes. The filings revealed information about the inner workings at Mar-a-Lago and Trump’s White House that could be used at trial. Trump has been charged with criminal mishandling of national security records, and Nauta and another co-defendant were indicted for obstructing justice. All three have pleaded not guilty, and a trial date has not been set.
Nauta’s grand jury testimony and the Mar-a-Lago search warrant affidavit were included in court filings for challenges that Trump and Nauta are making against the case. Nauta is claiming that he was selectively and vindictively prosecuted after refusing to return to the grand jury. His attorney declined to comment, and Trump’s attorneys did not provide a statement.
The criminal investigation into mishandling classified information began after the Archives reviewed the initial 15 boxes retrieved from Mar-a-Lago and found sensitive government records in them. Trump responded to a subpoena for classified documents by providing materials in June 2022, but investigators discovered more boxes at the resort during a search. The FBI pointed to Nauta and another witness’s statements to explain how they concluded that there were more boxes of sensitive records than initially retrieved.
Nauta was identified as “Witness 5” in the warrant affidavit, and it was revealed that he had collected boxes from Mar-a-Lago to be reviewed by Trump but didn’t review all of the boxes. The Justice Department sought surveillance footage from Mar-a-Lago, which showed Nauta moving more than 60 boxes but only returning less than half of them before an attorney’s review. Nauta is also seeking to throw out evidence obtained from his phone and email accounts, claiming that the FBI mischaracterized his statements to the grand jury.
After Nauta’s grand jury testimony, he replaced his attorney and refused to return to the grand jury for more testimony without certain conditions being met. Nauta is asking a judge to throw out evidence obtained from his phone and email accounts, claiming that the FBI mischaracterized his statements. Federal prosecutors stated they would continue making updated versions of the Mar-a-Lago search documentation public as more disclosures are made in the criminal case.
