Walt Nauta is one of the White House aides indicted, alongside former US President Donald Trump, for allegedly mishandling confidential documents. After his trip to Florida was disrupted due to storms, his arraignment hearing had to be rescheduled.
Arraignment for Walt Nauta
Nauta was supposed to be arraigned on Tuesday, June 27. But when he failed to appear in Miami, CNN reported that the judge postponed the proceeding.
Nauta's lawyer, Stanley Woodward, explained to the magistrate court that his client missed his trip because of the weather. Woodward said the man spent many hours at the airport attempting to rebook a ticket to Florida.
According to Woodward, Nauta still does not have a local attorney licensed to work in the Southern District of Florida. At a short hearing on Tuesday, the magistrate court informed Woodward that his client had until July 6 to recruit a lawyer licensed to work in southern Florida.
Nauta's Ties to Trump
Nauta was in New Jersey with Trump in recent days, where he was scheduled to enter a not-guilty plea. About 8,000 flights in the US, including many in the Northeast, were either delayed or canceled the day before the planned hearing.
Six charges have been filed against Nauta as a result of his alleged actions related to the scandal on sensitive documents, including numerous counts of obstruction and concealment.
Nauta made his first court appearance this month alongside Trump, but he has not yet filed a formal plea since he was unable to get a local counsel in time for the hearing.
Meanwhile, Trump faces 37 felony counts related to the alleged retention of confidential materials and conspiracy to conceal those papers from both the government and his own counsel. He has pled not guilty to all of the accusations.
Prosecutors claim that at Trump's instruction, Nauta helped transport boxes from a Mar-a-Lago storage area to the former president's house. Prosecutors claim Trump intended to review the boxes before sending 15 of them to the National Archives in 2022.
But the prosecution alleges that in an interview with the FBI in May 2022, Nauta lied about the event, stating that he was unaware of boxes being transferred to Trump's property.
The indictment states: "Nauta did, in fact, know that the boxes in Pine Hall had come from the Storage Room, as Nauta himself, with the assistance of Trump Employee 2, had moved the boxes from the Storage Room to Pine Hall, and Nauta had observed the boxes in and moved them to various locations at The Mar-a-Lago Club."
Later, investigators uncovered video surveillance showing Nauta and another Trump adviser transporting boxes containing highly classified data.
According to prior CNN reports, Nauta altered his account after receiving access to the video clip. Upon hiring new legal representation, he also stopped cooperating with investigators last autumn.
