MIAMI — An aide to former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to a charge of conspiring with the former president to obstruct the U.S. government’s efforts to retrieve classified documents during a brief hearing in Miami federal court on Thursday.
Walt Nauta, a Navy veteran who served as a Trump aide in the White House and now works for him as his personal valet, uttered only three words during the arraignment. When asked by Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres if he had reviewed the indictment, he replied, “Yes, your honor.”
It was Nauta’s third scheduled hearing for what is typically a simple proceeding. Because he did not have a local attorney with credentials to appear in South Florida federal court, he had been unable to enter a plea with Trump on June 13. He missed a second hearing last week because a flight was canceled due to bad weather and he also had not yet retained a local counsel.
On Thursday, Nauta had one — Sasha Dadan, a Fort Pierce attorney and former state public defender who has little experience in the federal court system. His Washington, D.C., defense attorney, Stanley Woodward, entered Nauta’s plea on his behalf while waiving the reading of the 38-count indictment, which includes charges of an obstruction conspiracy, concealing documents and making a false statement to federal agents. The bulk of the indictment focuses on Trump’s alleged wrongdoing, including willfully retaining classified records in violation of the Espionage Act, an obstruction conspiracy and making a false statement to federal agents.
After the brief hearing in Miami, Nauta left the magistrate court with his two lawyers, did not respond to questions from dozens of reporters and departed in a black Mercedes-Benz sedan.
Now that Nauta has been formerly arraigned, special counsel Jack Smith and his team of Justice Department lawyers will begin the process of sharing discovery evidence with him and his boss, the former president.
Both face trial in the Fort Pierce division of the Southern District of Florida. But a tentative trial date of Aug. 14 is likely to be postponed until at least December or even next year because of the complexity of the case, which involves volumes of classified and unclassified documents, according to court filings by Justice Department prosecutors. Smith, the special counsel, has asked U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to set the trial for Dec. 11, but Trump’s lawyers are expected to push for a later date.
