For loyal service to Donald Trump both in the White House and since — as valet, Diet Coke gofer and occasional box mover — Walt Nauta now finds himself joined even closer to his boss: as the former president's co-defendant. You have to feel sorry for the guy.
Nauta presumably could have avoided the six federal criminal counts against him, and the prospect of many years in prison, if he'd just cooperated with federal prosecutors to help build a case against their real target, Trump, for swiping classified documents and conspiring to hide them from the government. Nauta could still flip, though that's thought unlikely. The fact that he has chosen not to help the feds doesn't make him a less sympathetic figure.
No, the 40-year-old Navy veteran is a tragic figure, whatever the legal outcome. On the orders of his former commander in chief, according to the indictment, Nauta obediently moved boxes containing classified material from room to room at Mar-a-Lago to hide them from investigators and even from Trump's lawyer, then lied to the FBI about his actions.
