Donald Trump’s former valet, Walt Nauta, is stranded in Newark, New Jersey, an attorney tells Miami judge
A defense attorney representing President Trump’s former valet, Walt Nauta, told a judge Tuesday that Nauta’s departure from New Jersey was delayed and eventually canceled. As a result, the hearing on the alleged illegal possession of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago had to be rescheduled.
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Stanley Woodward, the lawyer, said Nauta apologized to Federal Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres for his absence. Woodward explained that Nauta, a Navy veteran who served as Trump’s valet in the White House and later became his personal assistant at Mar-a-Lago, could not be found in Florida and was stranded in Newark, New Jersey. Nauta’s flight to Florida for investigation was initially delayed several hours on the tarmac.
Consequently, Judge Torres decided to postpone the scheduled hearing, moving it to July 6. This marks the second time the trial in the Nauta case has been rescheduled.
“You really have to try to make it your drop-dead deadline for somebody to come here,” Torres told Woodward during a Miami federal hearing on Monday, according to Reuters.
Woodward said he could not yet enter a plea in a case on Nauta’s behalf.
Hundreds of flights out of Newark Liberty International Airport were delayed and canceled Monday due to severe thunderstorms. Newark, as well as New York City’s John F. Kennedy and La Guardia airports continued to experience delays and cancellations Tuesday.
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Nauta was indicted along with Trump earlier this month in a 38-count indictment filed by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith.
Trump pleaded not guilty earlier this month to 37 counts of mishandling classified documents kept at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. Nauta’s trial was postponed to give him time to find a Florida attorney.
The indictment alleges that Nauta conspired with Trump to hide the records he took with him from the White House after his term ends in January 2021.
According to prosecutors, Nauta allegedly followed the former president’s instructions to move boxes containing classified documents to prevent Trump’s lawyer, who was tasked with searching the premises to return classified records to the government, from finding them. As prosecutors allege, the move resulted in a misleading representation to the Justice Department, falsely implying that a thorough search had been made for classified documents and that all subpoenaed documents had been returned.
Meanwhile, Trump, the front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential race, on Monday denied the U.S. Department of Justice’s request to file under seal the names of 84 potential witnesses it seeks to bar from discussing the case. District Judge Eileen Cannon refused. Proceeds in court.
In her view, she said, the Justice Department did not explain why it needed to file the list in court or why it needed to print the list from public view. Cannon also scheduled an early meeting on July 14 to discuss matters related to the Classified Information Procedures Act.
Last week, the Justice Department proposed a Dec. 11 trial date for Trump, after the judge requested a postponement from the August start date. Cannon told defense lawyers to respond to that request by July 6.