Walt Nauta, an aide to Donald Trump, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to six counts in connection with the former president’s alleged retention of national security material.
Nauta is charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document, concealing a document in a federal investigation, scheme to conceal, and false statements and representations. He serves as Trump’s body man, and is accused by the Justice Department of moving boxes containing defense material around Mar-a-Lago to conceal them from attorneys. (RELATED: Trump Pleads Not Guilty To 34 Charges, Indictment Unsealed)
FLASH from my @CBSMiami teammate Ted Scouten:
Walt Nauta has pleaded NOT GUILTY to all federal charges in USA v. Trump and Nauta
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) July 6, 2023
According to the indictment, Nauta repeatedly moved boxes containing classified and defense material throughout Mar-a-Lago at Trump’s direction. After the DOJ subpoenaed Trump in May 2022 for classified and national security material believed to be in his possession, Nauta allegedly moved 64 boxes from their location in a Mar-a-Lago storage room to Trump’s personal residence in the club.
Trump “told me to put them in the room and that he was going to talk to you about them,” Nauta texted a Trump family member, according to the indictment.
In another instance, Nauta found documents spilled across the floor of a storage room. They were labeled secret and releasable only to the Five Eyes intelligence community, according to a picture Nauta allegedly texted to another Trump employee that was included in the indictment.
Nauta faces up to 90 years in prison, with four of the charges carrying 20-year maximum sentences, and two more carrying five-year maximums.