“Loyalty to Donald Trump is like First Avenue in Manhattan: one way. History has shown time and time again that Donald doesn’t care about anyone but himself,” said Cohen, who since his time in prison for paying women not to go public with their alleged sexual encounters, during the 2016 presidential race, has turned on Trump and ultimately tried to win leniency by cooperating with prosecutors.
According to the indictment unsealed Friday, Walt Nauta played a crucial role in the alleged plot with Trump, who is charged with 37 counts of illegally hoarding classified documents and obstructing government efforts to recover them.
The government alleges that 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, according to the indictment, Nauta discovered that several boxes had fallen in the storage room, spilling their contents to the floor.
Nauta took and shared photos of the scene, which included a clearly marked document warning that it was restricted to the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, made up of the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.
Nauta was key to Trump’s investigation from the start, with FBI agents questioning him about the movement of boxes inside Mar-a-Lago weeks before serving his search warrant on the property.
However, like other witnesses close to Trump, his responses to law enforcement put him in legal jeopardy.
Although prosecutors say Nauta moved boxes of documents to Trump’s residence for review on his orders, he lied to agents by saying he was unaware that this was happening, according to the indictment.
And when asked by officers 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 honestly don’t know.”
Nauta’s attorney, Stanley Woodward, declined to answer questions about the charges or any attempt to have his client rat out the former president, but confirmed the two would appear together.
Donald Trump is expected to be arraigned in Miami federal court on Tuesday.
The landmark criminal indictment stems from his alleged mishandling of secret government documents that he refused to hand over.
Trump landed in Miami yesterday after leaving his golf club in New Jersey.
The authorities in Miami say they are prepared for any protest that may occur during his appearance.
The former president has called on his supporters to join a demonstration that is planned outside the court.
As part of the federal indictment, Trump faces 37 felony counts.
He is expected to return to New Jersey after his hearing and deliver a speech tonight.
Nauta faces six federal charges, including conspiracy to obstruct justice, corrupt concealment of a document or record, and false statements. His inclusion in the impeachment was met with protests 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, waiting for him to say bad things about ‘Trump’. He is strong, brave and a Great Patriot. The FBI and the Department of Justice are CORRUPT!” he wrote.
Ty Cobb, the former White House attorney who served as Trump’s attorney during the Russia investigation, said he felt sorry for Nauta, describing him as a dutiful worker who “nods and then does what he’s told to do. “
Cobb remembered Nauta stopping by his house, checking on him and bringing him a soda when he was working late.
He said he remembered how Nauta realized — after dozens of uneaten burgers — that Cobb didn’t eat meat and quietly began substituting salmon for his lunches.
“I think it’s really sad that people weren’t able to convince him of his misguided loyalty,” Cobb said of Nauta’s decision not to cooperate with prosecutors. “He should be a witness. He should not be a defendant.
But you can only pass up that opportunity for so long before you have to shoot. So I think it’s tragic.”
As for Cohen, he testified before the grand jury about the hush money payments that led to the first-ever criminal charges against a former president.
Trump was indicted in March in New York on 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with payments to women who alleged sexual encounters with him. Trump has denied the allegations and any wrongdoing.
Weisselberg, who testified against the Trump Organization at his trial, said on the witness stand that neither Trump nor his family knew about the prosecution plot.
Prosecutors maintained that Trump “knew exactly what was going on.”
Cohen said Nauta should learn from his own experience that devotion to Trump is not worth the consequences.
“I predict Walt will suffer the exact same outcome as the rest of us who have all been thrown under the Donald J. Trump benefit bus,” Cohen said, describing “just another Trump acolyte whose life has been completely turned upside down.” for his misguided loyalty to a man who didn’t deserve it.”
2023-06-13 12:29:00
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