Former President Donald Trump was indicted last week on criminal counts related to his handling of classified documents and is set to appear in court Tuesday. When he does, he will not be alone.
Walt Nauta, Trump’s valet and right-hand man, was named as a co-conspirator in the unsealed indictment. It alleges that Nauta, a military veteran, made false statements during an FBI interview about the documents stored at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
Nauta faces six charges, including conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding records, concealing documents and making false statements. According to the indictment, Trump directed Nauta to move boxes that were part of the investigation from a storage room and to conceal the documents from Trump’s attorney, from the grand jury and from the government.
Who is Walt Nauta? Here’s what we know about him now:
- Waltine “Walt” Nauta, 37, was born in Agat, Guam, and joined the Navy after high school. He served as a White House military valet to Trump, according to The Washington Post.
- He became a senior chief culinary specialist in 2021.
- Trump described him on his social media platform, Truth Social, as a “wonderful man” who “served proudly with me in the White House, retired as Senior Chief, and then transitioned into private life as a personal aide.”
- Nauta agreed to go with Trump to Florida after Trump lost the election and left the White House.
- In a Washington Post interview with family members, Nauta was described as a “good boy” who moved to the United States “to enjoy his life, not to cause problems.”
- His aunt said anything he did at Mar-a-Lago was at the direction of the president. “All he was instructed was to put the boxes where they were supposed to go,” Elly Nauta, his aunt, told the Post.
- According to The New York Times, Nauta attracted the attention of the government when he appeared on security camera footage from Mar-a-Lago. Nauta was seen moving boxes in and out of a basement storage room after a grand jury subpoena was issued for the records.
- Prosecutors have been weighing charging Nauta since the fall, the Times reported, after they pressured him to cooperate with their investigation and he declined.
- According to the indictment, he gave false testimony in interviews with the FBI about whether he had moved boxes to Trump’s residence from the storage room at a time when the National Archives had asked for the return of presidential records Trump had taken.
