June 22, 2023
The Department of Justice began turning over evidence to former president Trump’s defense team in the Mar-a-Lago documents case yesterday, according to a new legal filing. It includes the grand jury testimony of Trump’s valet Waltine Nauta, among other transcripts and recordings.
Special counsel Jack Smith has expressed a preference for a speedy trial. Accordingly, the first production of evidence from the government comes just two weeks after the indictment was filed.
Trump was charged on June 8 with 37 counts for willful retention of national defense information and, along with his valet Waltine Nauta, conspiring to obstruct the government’s attempts to retrieve it. He has pled not guilty.
This first production of evidence includes a transcript of Nauta’s testimony at a Washington, DC grand jury on June 21, 2022. It was not known prior to this filing that Nauta had testified before a grand jury in the documents case.
It includes recordings of Trump made by third parties with his consent. The government had already revealed they possessed one such recording, made on July 21, 2021 at Trump’s Bedminster golf resort, where he showed classified documents to unauthorized visitors. The language in this court filing with the use of the plural “recordings” suggests the government has in their possession more than was revealed in the indictment.
It also includes a transcript of Nauta’s FBI interview on May 26, 2022. Nauta was charged with one count of lying to the FBI during that interview.
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