Walt Nauta, center, assists Former President Donald Trump as he greets supporters at the second round of the LIV Golf at Trump National Golf Club, Saturday, May 27, 2023, in Sterling, Virginia.
Alex Brandon/AP Photo
Nauta, Trump’s personal aide, was supposed to be arraigned Tuesday in the classified documents case.
He wasn’t able to get local counsel or make it to the arraignment in person.
He waited at the airport for 8 hours as flights were delayed out of Newark.
MIAMI — Former President Donald Trump’s personal aide, Waltine Nauta, received another extension for his arraignment after he failed to secure local counsel.
His attorney, Stanley Woodward, appeared on his behalf and told the court that Nauta hadn’t been able to find local councel and requested an extension until July 6. Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres granted the extension, saying it should be the “drop-dead deadline.”
Nauta was not required to appear at the arraignment in person, though he tried, according to Woodward. Nauta was at Newark Liberty International Airport for eight hours on Monday — where numerous flights were delayed because of weather. He was unable to get a flight in time for his court appearance, Woodward said.
Though Nauta was taken into custody in a Miami courthouse a block away alongside Trump on June 13, he wasn’t arraigned nor did he enter a plea that day because at that time he didn’t yet have an attorney from Florida representing him. Like Trump, Nauta didn’t have to post a bond and won’t face restrictions on his travel as the case moves forward.
US Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman, the judge presiding over that day’s proceedings, ordered Trump and Nauta not to discuss the case with each other unless they did so through their lawyers.
Federal prosecutors allege that Nauta helped pack Trump’s boxes before he left the White House and repeatedly moved them around Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s residence and private club, at the ex-president’s request.
Trump directed Nauta “to move boxes of documents to conceal them from Trump’s attorney, the FBI, and the grand jury,” the indictment alleges.
Nauta, a Navy veteran, is a longtime personal aide for Trump. He started working for Trump as a White House valet, a role that includes being a personal assistant, messenger, and errand runner for the president.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon, who Trump appointed when he was president, is expected to preside over the trial itself. Cannon set a tentative schedule to have the trial over by September, though the prosecution asked for the trial to be pushed to December.