A Florida judge is expected to release the grand jury testimony of Donald Trump’s valet after a Washington, D.C., court transferred control of the case to her.
Revealed testimony could shed new light on why Trump continued to keep classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and his possible orders to his staff at that time.
Attorneys for Walter Nauta, Trump’s former personal assistant who has been indicted alongside Trump for allegedly hiding the classified documents, had sought the access to the testimony from Washington, D.C., where Nauta had testified before the grand jury in the case.
The Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith announced in a court brief on Monday that he emailed a copy of a D.C judge’s order to Aileen Cannon, the judge in the classified documents case, and to Nauta’s lawyer.
The order transfers to Cannon the responsibility for whether to disclose Nauta’s grand jury testimony to the public.
Timothy A. Clary/Getty Images
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 leaving 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.
Newsweek has contacted Trump’s attorney via email for comment.
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 contacted Nauta’s lawyers for comment via email on Tuesday.
The sealed Washington D.C. order issued by Smith allows for the “resolution of public disclosure of certain pleadings and other materials arising out of a grand jury matter in the District of Columbia.”
A previous court filing showed that Nauta’s testimony is included in the documents.
In addition, Smith also emailed his proposed redactions of the documents to the judge and the defense counsel.
The fact that Smith is seeking only redactions, and not the complete retention of the grand jury documents, suggests that they will likely be released to the public.
Smith has repeatedly argued for redaction of documents in the case because he does not want witnesses to be intimidated by Trump supporters, as they have in other court cases that involve the former president.
In a filing to Cannon on March 9, prosecutors requested the redaction of several documents, giving insight into the scale of the investigation into Nauta.
The filing shows agents obtained search warrants in Washington, D.C., for Nauta’s “Verizon cell site data” and for his “Google location data.”
The cell-site data would show which phone towers Nauta’s phone was nearest to on the days he is accused of hiding documents in Mar-a-Lago. Similarly, the Google location data, also collected from Nauta’s phone, would show his location at the time of the alleged crime.
According to the filing, other search warrants prosecutors want redacted include ones for Nauta’s work Apple iCloud, his Microsoft email, and his car and phones.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.