Newly revealed grand jury testimony from Trump's valet helps explain FBI's desire to search Mar-a-Lago

CNN-

Donald Trump's valet told investigators before the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago in 2022 that he randomly selected boxes of documents to return to the National Archives and Trump himself ordered dozens of Other boxes located in the complex would not be returned, according to recently unsealed court documents.

The documents reviewed by CNN shed new light on the critical role that Walt Nauta, now Trump's co-defendant in the classified documents affair, played in giving the FBI justification to execute the search warrant against the resort in the former president in Florida.

Nauta testified before a grand jury two months before the August 2022 search about boxes he took from Mar-a-Lagos storage in January 2022.

When a grand juror asked Nauta if he wanted to just remove a few, Nauta said yes, according to a recently unsealed transcript and unredacted affidavit from the FBI search warrant.

At one point in the process of selecting which boxes Trump should review before sending them back to the archives, Nauta said Trump told him, okay, that's it.

Nautas' account was corroborated by a second witness, whose identity is not publicly known. Both said Trump had ordered no more boxes to be donated to the National Archives.

Newly unsealed documents show investigators spoke to dozens of witnesses and obtained information about the inner workings of Mar-a-Lago and the Trump White House that was not included in the initial charging documents against Trump and Nauta but which could be used at trial. In particular, the documents add to the picture of how the FBI knew there were additional boxes at Trump's club that likely contained classified documents.

Trump was accused by special counsel Jack Smith of criminal mishandling of national security records and attempting to obstruct justice after the federal government subpoenaed their return. Nauta and another co-defendant, Carlos De Oliveira, were charged as co-conspirators with obstruction of justice. All three have pleaded not guilty. A trial date has not yet been set.

Nauta's grand jury testimony could be used in trial against Trump

The recently unredacted Mar-a-Lago search warrant affidavit and Nauta's grand jury testimony were included in court documents as part of several challenges Trump and Nauta are launching against Smith's case.

Nauta, who eventually stopped cooperating with the special prosecutor, now claims he was selectively and vindictively prosecuted because he refused to return to the grand jury for another round of testimony unless certain conditions were met. be fulfilled, according to the pleadings he made before the court in the case where the judge is still thinking.

Nautas' attorney declined to comment for this story. Trump's lawyers, some of whom are currently defending him in the ongoing criminal trial in Manhattan over secret payments, also had no comment.

Do Mar-a-Lago guests get special access to Trump?

Nauta's grand jury testimony could become a notable part of a possible trial against Trump. Even if Nauta refuses to testify, prosecutors could seek to use his grand jury statements about Trump in their presentation to the jury.

The criminal investigation into the mishandling of classified information began after the Archives examined the first 15 boxes recovered from Mar-a-Lago and became alarmed by the sensitive government documents Archives officials found there.

Trump's lawyers responded to a subpoena for all documents bearing classified marks at the complex by delivering an envelope of documents in June 2022. At the time, one of his lawyers signed a statement claiming that a Diligent search had been done through the boxes to locate all of these documents.

In the affidavit for the search at Mar-a-Lago a few weeks later, investigators outlined what Justice Department and FBI officials observed at the resort when they retrieved statements from Nauta and another witness, to explain how they concluded that there were far more boxes of sensitive Trump documents in the White House than the 15 that had been recovered by the National Archives.

Witness statements, the FBI told the court at the time, indicated that boxes of documents were randomly chosen to be returned to the National Archives and that Trump himself ordered that dozens of additional boxes not be returned. returned.

Nauta was named as Witness 5 in the warrant, but can be identified by comparing the affidavit to the transcript of his June 2022 grand jury appearance that was released in recent days, as well as other details revealed during the criminal proceedings.

In the affidavit, the FBI said Nauta and others retrieved the fifteen boxes from the storage room to the entrance of the FPOTUS personal residential suite at Mar-a-Lago so Trump could personally examine them . (FPOTUS refers to the former President of the United States.)

Even though there were many more FPOTUS boxes than the fifteen boxes, FPOTUS did not examine the rest of the FPOTUS boxes before the NARA pickup, the FBI agent wrote to the court to justify the search.

According to the affidavit, the Justice Department requested surveillance footage from Mar-a-Lagos from the Trump Organization in the days following Nautas' grand jury testimony. The footage showed Nauta moving boxes around the complex days before and after a Trump lawyer was assigned to examine the boxes for classified documents that had been subpoenaed as part of the investigation.

The FBI told the court that its review of the footage showed that Witness 5 moved more than 60 boxes from the Mar-a-Lagos storage room, but returned less than half of them, before the The lawyer does not examine the boxes in this room.

Nauta seeks to eliminate evidence of phone and email accounts

After Nauta testified before the grand jury, Trump's aide replaced his original lawyer with one provided to him through Trump-world.

This new lawyer, Stanley Woodward, rejected prosecutors' request that Nauta return to the grand jury for more testimony, because prosecutors refused to offer Nauta the opportunity to testify under conditions that would protect him from charges, according to court records.

In a separate set of documents released in the lawsuit in Florida federal court, Nauta also asks U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to exclude evidence that prosecutors obtained during searches of his phone accounts and messaging. He claims the FBI misrepresented his statements to the grand jury in its affidavits to claim he lied during the investigation.

Nauta also claims the subpoena was invalid and that he did not know at the time that his moving of the boxes was related to the subpoena requests.

The special counsels office said in a court filing that Nauta's refusal to respond to the affidavits was implausible.

Federal prosecutors informed a judge in writing last week that they will continue to make updated versions of Mar-a-Lago research materials public as they disclose more in the criminal case.

CNN's Hannah Rabinowitz contributed to this report.

Sources 1/ https://Google.com/ 2/ https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/07/politics/mar-a-lago-trump-nauta-classified-documents/index.html The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article

What Are The Main Benefits Of Comparing Car Insurance Quotes Online

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 24, 2020, / Compare-autoinsurance.Org has launched a new blog post that presents the main benefits of comparing multiple car insurance quotes. For more info and free online quotes, please visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/the-advantages-of-comparing-prices-with-car-insurance-quotes-online/ The modern society has numerous technological advantages. One important advantage is the speed at which information is sent and received. With the help of the internet, the shopping habits of many persons have drastically changed. The car insurance industry hasn't remained untouched by these changes. On the internet, drivers can compare insurance prices and find out which sellers have the best offers. View photos The advantages of comparing online car insurance quotes are the following: Online quotes can be obtained from anywhere and at any time. Unlike physical insurance agencies, websites don't have a specific schedule and they are available at any time. Drivers that have busy working schedules, can compare quotes from anywhere and at any time, even at midnight. Multiple choices. Almost all insurance providers, no matter if they are well-known brands or just local insurers, have an online presence. Online quotes will allow policyholders the chance to discover multiple insurance companies and check their prices. Drivers are no longer required to get quotes from just a few known insurance companies. Also, local and regional insurers can provide lower insurance rates for the same services. Accurate insurance estimates. Online quotes can only be accurate if the customers provide accurate and real info about their car models and driving history. Lying about past driving incidents can make the price estimates to be lower, but when dealing with an insurance company lying to them is useless. Usually, insurance companies will do research about a potential customer before granting him coverage. Online quotes can be sorted easily. Although drivers are recommended to not choose a policy just based on its price, drivers can easily sort quotes by insurance price. Using brokerage websites will allow drivers to get quotes from multiple insurers, thus making the comparison faster and easier. For additional info, money-saving tips, and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ Compare-autoinsurance.Org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. "Online quotes can easily help drivers obtain better car insurance deals. All they have to do is to complete an online form with accurate and real info, then compare prices", said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company. CONTACT: Company Name: Internet Marketing CompanyPerson for contact Name: Gurgu CPhone Number: (818) 359-3898Email: [email protected]: https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ SOURCE: Compare-autoinsurance.Org View source version on accesswire.Com:https://www.Accesswire.Com/595055/What-Are-The-Main-Benefits-Of-Comparing-Car-Insurance-Quotes-Online View photos