Donald Trump’s former personal assistant, Walt Nauta, who was charged with complicity in the negligent handling of state secrets after the former Republican president left the White House, pleaded not guilty in federal court in Florida on Thursday.
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“He is pleading not guilty to all counts,” said Stanley Woodward, attorney for the defendant, during a brief hearing in Miami.
Wearing a dark blue suit, Mr Nauta, 40, is accused of endangering the security of the United States by helping Donald Trump store and hide confidential documents, including military plans or information about nuclear weapons, in a bathroom or storage room the billionaire’s luxury residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
This soldier, who served as President during Mr Trump’s tenure before leaving the administration to continue working at his side after his defeat in 2020, faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the more serious charges against him becomes.
The 77-year-old former president also pleaded not guilty to the charges against him in mid-June and now faces a historic and potentially very damaging trial over his campaigning for the 2024 US presidential election.
In particular, he is accused of refusing to return the documents despite court orders, which earned him charges of “illegal withholding of information related to national security”, but also of “obstruction of justice” and “false testimony”.
Surrounded by investigations, Donald Trump has already been indicted by the New York state judiciary on multiple accounting frauds related to a payment made before the 2016 presidential election to silence an X-movie actress.
This criminal trial is to be organized in early 2024.
Even the former tenant of the White House, currently the big favorite in the Republican primaries, is not finished with the legal problems. A Georgia prosecutor is expected to announce the outcome of her investigation into his pressure to change the 2020 presidential election by September.
A special prosecutor is investigating his role in his supporters’ attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021