Walt Nauta, left, takes a phone from Former President Donald Trump during the LIV Golf Pro-Am at Trump National Golf Club, Thursday, May 25, 2023, in Sterling, Va. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
The judge in the Mar-a-Lago case kicked off the week by scheduling a hearing for Donald Trump’s co-defendants and their motions to throw out the indictments they face on various grounds.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon on Monday called for a non-evidentiary hearing at 10 a.m. on April 19, 11 days from now, on Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira’s and Trump valet Walt Nauta’s motions.
The brief notice that hit the docket said the hearing would address De Oliveira’s motion to dismiss or, short of that, a motion to make special counsel Jack Smith file a bill of particulars, which would give the defendant “information about the details of the charges against him that are necessary to the preparation of his defense and to avoid prejudicial surprise at trial.” Cannon said she would also hear arguments on Nauta’s motion for a bill of particulars and motion to dismiss the case for failure to state an offense, for vagueness as applied to him, and based on the rule of lenity.
Notably, the judge said she would issue an order “directing partially redacted filings” of Nauta’s two motions.
More Law&Crime coverage: Mar-a-Lago judge defends order that caused legal uproar as ‘genuine’ while handing Trump another win disguised as a loss
While Nauta faces charges of conspiracy to obstruct, false statements to the FBI, and withholding documents, connected to an alleged scheme to delete Mar-a-Lago camera footage and conceal boxes of classified documents from a grand jury, De Oliveira is likewise accused of trying to help Trump “keep classified documents he had taken with him from the White House and to hide and conceal them.”
Prosecutors accused De Oliveira of helping Nauta move some 30 boxes from Trump’s residence to a storage room on June 2, 2022, “the day that Trump Attorney 1 was scheduled to review Trump’s boxes in the Storage Room.”
Trump allegedly spoke with Nauta on the phone hours before his co-defendants moved the boxes containing classified documents, the possession of which formed the basis of Espionage Act willful retention of national defense information charges against the former president.
Brian Butler, a former Trump valet and erstwhile friend of De Oliveira’s, in March outed himself as “Trump Employee 5” referenced in the indictment. In public interviews, Butler has said “it’s very possible” that he witnessed “part of a cover-up” later on that June 2022.
“From what I saw, the questions — why would they ask about video footage, how long it’s deleted for?” Butler said on MSNBC last month. “Those are conversations Carlos [De Oliveira] told me he was asked with finding out prior to Walt [Nauta]’s arrival on a secret trip.”
According to the indictment, De Oliveira on June 25, 2022, allegedly told Butler that Nauta was en route from Bedminster, N.J., to Mar-a-Lago and asked Butler not to tell anyone about the “secret” trip that related to surveillance camera footage.
“DE OLIVEIRA also told Trump Employee 5 that NAUTA wanted DE OLIVEIRA to talk to Trump Employee 4 to see how long camera footage was stored,” the indictment said. “Shortly after arriving in Palm Beach on the evening of June 25, NAUTA went to The Mar-a-Lago Club and met with DE OLIVEIRA at 5:46 p.m. At The Mar-a-Lago Club, NAUTA and DE OLIVEIRA went to the security guard booth where surveillance video is displayed on monitors, walked with a flashlight through the tunnel where the Storage Room was located, and observed and pointed out surveillance cameras.”
Two days later, De Oliveira told another employee — “Trump Employee 4” — that “the boss” wanted the video footage server deleted, the indictment further alleged.
Marisa Sarnoff contributed to this report.
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