Nauta is the latest in a series of Trump loyalists to face potential jail time after his work for the former president. Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime fixer and attorney, spent more than 13 months in prison over payouts he helped arrange during the 2016 presidential race to keep women from going public about alleged sexual encounters with Trump. Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer at the Trump Organization, just finished serving three months at Rikers Island after pleading guilty to receiving $1.7 million in unreported job perks.
“Loyalty to Donald Trump is like First Avenue in Manhattan: one way. History has shown time and again that Donald cares for no one other than himself,” said Cohen, who has since turned on Trump and eventually tried to win leniency by cooperating with prosecutors.
Nauta, according to the indictment unsealed Friday, played a crucial role in the alleged scheme with Trump, who is charged with 37 counts of illegally hoarding classified documents and obstructing the government’s efforts to get them back.
The government alleges Nauta helped pack Trump's boxes before he left the White House and repeatedly moved them to various rooms at Mar-a-Lago in response to Trump's requests.
At one point, the indictment alleges, Nauta discovered several boxes had fallen over in the storage room, dumping their contents on the floor. Nauta snapped and shared photographs of the scene, which included a document with a visible marking warning it was restricted to only the Five Eyes intelligence alliance of the U.S., U.K., Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
Nauta was key to Trump’s investigation early on, with FBI agents grilling him about the movement of boxes inside Mar-a-Lago weeks before serving their search warrant at the property. Like other witnesses close to Trump, though, his answers to law enforcement put him in legal jeopardy.
Although prosecutors say Nauta moved boxes of documents to Trump’s residence for his review at his direction, he lied to agents by saying he wasn’t aware of that happening, according to the indictment. And when agents asked if he knew where on the property the boxes had been stored, he said, “I wish, I wish I could tell you. I don’t know. I don’t — I honestly just don’t know.”
Nauta’s attorney, Stanley Woodward, declined to answer questions about the charges or any efforts to get his client to turn on the former president, but confirmed the two would appear together.
Nauta faces six federal charges, including conspiracy to obstruct justice, corruptly concealing a document or record and making false statements. His inclusion in the indictment was met by protest from Trump, who praised Nauta as “a wonderful man" who had ”done a fantastic job!"
“They are trying to destroy his life, like the lives of so many others, hoping that he will say bad things about ‘Trump.’ He is strong, brave, and a Great Patriot. The FBI and DOJ are CORRUPT!” he wrote.
Ty Cobb, the former White House attorney who served as Trump’s lawyer during the Russia investigation, said he felt sorry for Nauta, whom he described as a dutiful worker who “nods and then does what he’s been told to do.”
“I think Walt is easy prey for the president because this is a dedicated patriot,” he said. “The proudest moment he ever had was being named valet to the president and sadly the president he got named valet for was Trump.”
Cobb recalled Nauta stopping by his home, checking in on him and fetching him club soda when he was working late. He said he remembered how Nauta noticed — after dozens of uneaten hamburgers — that Cobb didn’t eat meat and quietly began substituting salmon for his lunches.
“I think it's really sad that people were not able to convince him of his misplaced loyalty," Cobb said of Nauta's decision not to cooperate with prosecutors. “He should be a witness. He shouldn’t be a defendant. But you can only dangle that opportunity for so long before you have to shoot. So I think it's tragic.”
