Former President Donald J. Trump’s personal aide, Walt Nauta, was indicted along with him. Nauta had previously worked as a military aide and White House valet during the Trump administration and retired to work for Trump personally. He was one of the few members of Trump’s post-presidential office when he returned to private life at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
Nauta’s loyalty to Trump has been noted by other aides, but he came under government scrutiny for moving boxes in and out of a basement storage room at Mar-a-Lago after a grand jury subpoena. The security camera footage of Nauta was subpoenaed by prosecutors, and he gave false testimony during interviews with government officials about whether he had moved boxes to Trump’s residence earlier in the year.
The indictment alleges that Nauta brought several boxes to Trump’s residence from the storage room when National Archives officials were seeking the return of presidential material, but he denied that he had. In another memorable moment noted in the indictment, Nauta discovered that some boxes in the storage room had fallen, revealing a document marked “SECRET//REL TO USA, FVEY,” which is only releasable to the Five Eyes intelligence alliance consisting of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Britain, and the United States. Nauta texted a colleague, “I opened the door and found this…”
Prosecutors had been pressuring Nauta to cooperate with their investigation, but he declined.
