One of the key witnesses in the ongoing investigation into Donald Trump and his administration’s handling of confidential records has been revealed to be one of the former President’s valets, who even continued to work for him after his presidency ended.
The Washington Post revealed the employee’s involvement on Wednesday, claiming he was an important witness because he personally moved boxes of classified material at Trump’s request while the government was looking for these highly sensitive items, a source confirms to washingtonpost.
He was eventually identified as Walt Nauta, and he reportedly denied his involvement in the document movement when questioned by the FBI at first, but admitted to being a part of it when they returned with video evidence.
His account, combined with security cameras video, appears to have provided FBI investigators with some rather compelling evidence. The obtained security footage was made public last week.
Nauta is a Navy veteran who previously worked at the White House mess dining facility. He eventually started working for Trump and became a trusted assistant to the former President, running small errands such as getting Trump Diet Cokes and fetching his jackets for visits. According to an anonymous former White House employee, Trump “trusted [Nauta] completely.”
After the Trump team turned over a small amount of the documents earlier that year, about 100 of the thousands obtained by the FBI in their August 8 raid on Mar-a-Lago were marked as “Classified.”
A top Justice Department official has also told Trump’s lawyers that they do not believe all of the documents have been recovered.
Trump filed an emergency request with the Supreme Court in an attempt to halt the investigation. On Thursday, the Supreme Court rejected his request, with no Justices stepping forward and noting their dissent to the rejection.