Walt Nauta, an adviser to Donald Trump, pleaded not guilty Thursday in Miami federal court to charges that he helped the former US president hide secret documents that the Republican took with him when he left the White House in 2021.
Attorney Stanley Woodward entered the not guilty plea on Nauta’s behalf at an arraignment that lasted a few minutes. Nauta’s Florida attorney, Sasha Dadan, was also in attendance. Nauta and his defenders later entered a conference room without speaking to the journalists.
Nauta smiled at the assembled press but said nothing upon his arrival at the court before the hearing.
Nauta first appeared with Trump on June 13, but was not prosecuted for lack of an attorney licensed to practice in Florida. His appearance was postponed a second time at the end of June for the same reason.
Trump, favorite for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024it was declared not guilty of 37 criminal charges for alleged retention of national security documents without authorization and obstruction of justice.
Nauta, a former White House valet and now a Trump adviser, faces six counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice, making false statements and withholding and concealing documents.
Prosecutors allege that Nauta hid boxes of documents from Trump’s lawyers who were looking for classified material requested by the US Department of Justice. He is also accused of lying to investigators during a voluntary interview.
Prosecutors have asked District Judge Aileen Cannon to delay the trial until December 11, after setting the initial trial date for August 14.
Trump is the first former US president to face criminal charges in both federal and state courts.
Special counsel Jack Smith accuses Trump of put national secrets at risk taking thousands of sensitive documents with him when he left the White House in January 2021 and storing them in disarray at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida estate and his New Jersey golf club.
In addition to the documents case, Trump is charged in New York with allegedly falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to a porn star during his 2016 presidential campaign. not guilty in that case too.
Trump denies any wrongdoing and says the investigations are part of a political plot against him.
Cannon has set a hearing for July 14 on how the classified information in the case will be handled. Legal experts have said that the complexities surrounding the use of highly classified documents as evidence will likely delay Trump’s trial.
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