US Government/Getty Waltine 'Walt' Nauta.
Waltine Nauta is a veteran of the United States Navy and the assistant and former valet to former President Donald Trump who is accused of being Trump’s “co-conspirator” in the federal indictment against Trump relating to his storing of classified materials at Mar-a-Lago.
The U.S. government has unsealed the full Trump indictment charging both the former president and Nauta, who also uses the name Walt Nauta.
The indictment accuses Nauta of helping conceal boxes from Trump’s attorney after a grand jury subpoena and of making misleading statements.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Walt Nauta, Who Is From Guam, Is Described in the Indictment as a ‘Member of the United States Navy’ Who Served as Donald Trump’s ‘Body Man’
The indictment calls Nauta Trump’s “co-conspirator.”
“Defendant Nauta was a member of the United States Navy stationed as a valet in the White House during Trump’s presidency,” the indictment says.
Starting in August 2021, “Nauta became an executive assistant in The Office of Donald J. Trump and served as Trump’s personal aide or ‘body man.'” the indictment says.
“Nauta reported to Trump, worked closely with Trump, and traveled with Trump,” it says.
The New York Post reported that Nauta is now retired from the Navy, where he served as a cook.
Nauta’s Facebook page contains several photos of him in uniform and says he is from Agat, Guam. Guamanian records and old newspaper articles say that Nauta married Savannah Lyn Rogers in 2012 in Guam, but it’s not clear whether they are still married.
His aunt told The Washington Post that Nauta acted at Trump’s direction.
The indictment says Trump, as president, “had lawful access to the most sensitive classified documents and national defense information gathered and owned by the United States government.”
According to the indictment, Trump “gathered newspapers, press clippings, letters, notes, cards, photographs, official documents, and other materials in cardboard boxes that he kept in the White House. Among the materials Trump stored in his boxes were hundreds of classified documents.”
“The classified documents Trump stored in his boxes included information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries; United States nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack; and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack,” the indictment against Trump and Nauta reads.
The unauthorized disclosure of these classified documents “could put at risk the national security of the United States, foreign relations, the safety of the United States military, and human sources, and the continued viability of sensitive intelligence collection methods,” the indictment says.
When Trump left the White House he “caused scores of boxes, many of which contained classified documents, to be transported to The Mar-a-lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, where he maintained his residence. Trump was not authorized to possess or retain those classified documents,” the indictment reads.
The indictment accuses Trump of storing the boxes with classified documents in various locations at Mar-a-Lago, including “in a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, an office space, his bedroom, and a storage room.”
2. Donald Trump Called Waltine Nauta ‘Strong, Brave & a Great Patriot’
In a statement on Truth Social, Trump praised Nauta and criticized the Department of Justice.
Trump wrote that the “thugs from the Department of Injustice will be indicting a wonderful man, Walt Nauta, a member of the U.S. Navy, who served proudly with me in the White House, retired as Senior Chief, and then transitioned into private life as a personal aide.”
Trump’s statement continued: “He has 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!”
3. The Indictment Accuses Trump of ‘Directing Defendant Waltine Nauta’ to Move Boxes to Conceal Them From Trump’s Attorney, the FBI, and the Grand Jury
Trump is accused of “directing defendant Waltine Nauta to move boxes of documents to conceal them from Trump’s attorney, the FBI and the grand jury.
According to the indictment, in January 2021, as he was preparing to leave the White House, Trump and his White House staff, including Nauta, packed items “including some of Trump’s boxes. Trump was personally involved in the process.”
From January through According to NBC, a lawyer for Nauta, described by the network as Trump’s “butler and body man,” is accusing a prosecutor, Jay Bratt, of inappropriately pressuring him “by bringing up his application for a judgeship in Washington, D.C.” The lawyer, Stanley Woodward, accused Bratt in a letter filed with the chief federal judge in Washington of having “raised the issue of the judgeship at a meeting in October at the Justice Department,” when prosecutors were trying to urge Nauta to cooperate with the investigation, saying he had lied, NBC reported. According to the indictment, executive order 13526 “provided that a former president could obtain a waiver of the ‘need to know; requirement, if the agency head or senior agency official of the agency that originated the classified information” determined access was consistent with the interest of national security and took appropriate steps to protect the classified information. Trump did not obtain any such waiver, the indictment says. It says that Trump retained classified documents involving the CIA, the Department of Defense, the National Security Agency and more. The indictment quotes numerous comments Trump made about classified information including, “In my administration I’m going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information. No one will be above the law.” The indictment gives many examples of Nauta being involved with Trump’s boxes. In one key passage, the indictment accuses him of moving boxes before Trump’s attorney searched them to comply with a subpoena. In December 2021, Nauta found several of Trump’s boxes fallen and their contents spilled onto the floor of the Storage Room, including a document marked ‘SECRET/REL to USA,FVEY” which denoted the information was releasable only to the Five Eyes intelligence alliance of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom, the indictment says. Nauta texted a Trump employee, “I opened the door and found this” and attached two photos, it says. In May 2021, Trump caused some of his boxes to be brought to his summer residence at the Bedminster Club., which was not an authorized location to store classified documents, the indictment says. In May 2021, the National Archives and Records Administration demanded that Trump turn over presidential records or it would refer it to the Department of Justice. Between November 2021 and January 2022, Nauta and another Trump employee at Trump’s direction brought boxes from the Storage Room to Trump’s residence for Trump to review, the indictment said. Trump’s employee texted Nauta about Trump’s review of the contents of his boxes asking “Has he mentioned boxes to you? I delivered some, but I think he may need more. Could you ask if he’d like more in pine hall?” the indictment says. Nauta replied, it says, “Nothing about boxes yet. He has one he’s working on in pine hall. Knocked out two boxes yesterday.” On January 15, 2022, Nauta texted a Trump employee, “One thing he asked was for new covers for the boxes for Monday m. Morning. Can we get new box covers before giving these to them on Monday They have too much writing on the . . . I marked too much.” The Trump employee and Nauta gathered 15 boxes from Trump’s residence and loaded the boxes in Nauta’s car and took them to a commercial truck for delivery to NARA, the indictment says. When interviewed by the FBI in May 2022, Nauta “made false and misleading statements including: falsely stating that he was not aware of Trump’s boxes being brought to Trump’s residence for his review before Trump provided 15 boxes to NARA in January 2022,” the indictment says. It also accuses Nauta of “falsely stating that he did not know how the boxes that he and the Trump employee 2 brought from trumps residence to the commercial truck for delivery to NARA on January 17, 2022, had gotten to the residence.” “When asked whether he knew where Trump’s boxes had been stored before they were in Trump’s residence and whether they had been in a secure or locked location, Nauta falsely responded ‘I wish, I wish I could tell you. I don’t know. I don’t – I honestly just don’t know,” the indictment says. On May 22, 2022, after the grand jury subpoena, Nauta entered the store room and left carrying one of Trump’s boxes, the indictment says. Trump told his attorney “ . . . what happens if we just don’t respond at all or don’t pay ball with them” and “Well look isn’t it better if there are no documents? Wouldn’t it be better if we just told them we don’t have anything here,” the indictment says. Nauta removed at Trump’s direction a total of approximately 64 boxes from the storage room and brought them to Trump’s residence, the indictment says. A Trump family member texted Nauta, writing, “Good afternoon Walt . . . I saw you put boxes to Potus room . . . Not sure how many he wants to take on Friday on the plane. We will NOT have a room for them. Plane will be full with luggage,” the indictment says, adding that at one point, Nauta spoke with Trump for 30 seconds. Before Trump’s attorney’s review of the boxes in the storage room, Nauta at Trump;s direction moved approximately 64 boxes from the storage room to Trump’s residence and brought to the storage room only approximately 30 boxes,” the indictment says. Nauta took the attorney to a room to meet with Trump, who asked “did you find anything? Is it bad good?” the indictment says. “Trump had directed Nauta to move boxes before Trump attorney 1’s June 2 review so that many boxes were not searched and many documents responsive to the May 11 subpoena could not be found,” the indictment says, adding that, “Nauta and others loaded several of Trump’s boxes on an aircraft that flew Trump and his family north for the summer.” Trump is accused of retaining 31 documents relating to national defense. READ NEXT: The Trump Prosecutor Jack Smith’s Wife Katy Chevigny.4. A Lawyer for Walt Nauta Is Accusing a Prosecutor of Bringing Up His Application for a Judgeship to Get Nauta to Cooperate With the Investigation
5. The Indictment Accuses Walt Nauta of Moving Boxes Before Trump’s Attorney Came to Look at Them