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Donald Trumphad trouble obtaining counsel for his arraignment in Florida on Tuesday, a legal source tells PEOPLE, after two of his lawyers quit the same day a federal indictment was made public.

The former president is making his first appearance at the Miami federal courthouse Tuesday afternoon to be arraigned, just a few days after he wasindicted by a federal grand jury. In an unsealed, 38-count indictment, prosecutors allege Trump, 76, retained over 100 classified documents with some of the most sensitive topics originating from seven intelligence agencies, including the CIA, NSA and Department of Defense.

Amid the chaos of the indictment being unsealed on Friday, two of Trump's attorneys Jim Trusty and John Rowley announced they were stepping back from their roles.

With his latest legal troubles, Trump appears to be facing another challenge: finding people to represent him in the case.

One of his PAC heads called six law firms in Florida to represent the former president and they all said no, a plugged in legal source tells PEOPLE.

The source adds that Trump "is still looking desperately. It could work to Trumps advantage though to see what this Trump-appointed judge does if he doesnt have adequate legal representation in Florida."

It was ultimately decided that attorneys Todd Blanche, who represented Trump at his April arraignment in a separate criminal case, and Chris Kine, the former solicitor general of Florida, would be by the former president's side in Miami on Tuesday.

Stephanie Keith/Getty

Attorneys may be wary of defending the former president based on the indictment recently unsealed by federal authorities, which lays out the case against him and includes mention of how Trump allegedly told his own attorneys to lie to authorities about federal documents.

The indictment and arraignment come months after the FBI searchedthe former president's Mar-a-Lago home and a subpoena from federal authorities requested that Trump hand over any classified documents he had brought with him after leaving the White House.

According to the indictment, Trump suggested that his attorneys lie to the FBI and the grand jury by telling them he "did not have documents called for by the grand jury subpoena.

Trump also allegedly had his personal valet, Walt Nauta (who is also charged in the case), move classified documents "to conceal them from Trumps attorney, the FBI, and the grand jury.

One of Trumps attorneys told investigators that the former president told his legal team he didnt want anybody looking at his documents and made comments such as, Well what if we, what happens if we just dont respond at all or dont play ball with [the FBI]?

Trump also said, according to the attorney, Wouldnt it be better if we just told them we dont have anything here? ... Well look isnt it better if there are no documents?

Elsewhere in the indictment, the same attorney details how he asked Trump whether he should take one of the classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago and place it in a safe at his hotel room. Trump, the attorney told investigators, made a funny motion as though well okay why dont you take them with you to your hotel room and if theres anything really bad in there, like, you know, pluck it out. And that was the motion that he made. He didnt say that.

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Now, the legal source tells PEOPLE, Trump is looking for young lawyers to make himself look better and because he doesnt think older lawyers have the ability to help him in this serious situation."

The source adds: He worries they are too old and dont have the in-depth knowledge of what they can use in his defense. They are basically too removed.

Read more from the original source:
Donald Trump 'Desperately' Looked for Lawyers over the Weekend: Source - PEOPLE

NEW YORK (AP) When former President Donald Trump appears in federal court Tuesday, he will be joined at the defense table by a man well-practiced in standing by his side: his valet turned alleged co-conspirator, Walt Nauta.

Nauta, a Navy veteran who fetched Trumps Diet Cokes as his valet at the White House before joining him as a personal aide at Mar-a-Lago, now finds himself in legal jeopardy alongside the former president. He is accused of moving boxes from the White House at Trumps direction and then lying about it to investigators.

Nauta is the latest in a series of Trump loyalists to face potential jail time after his work for the former president. Michael Cohen, Trumps longtime fixer and attorney, spent more than 13 months in prison over payouts he helped arrange during the 2016 presidential race to keep women from going public about alleged sexual encounters with Trump. Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer at the Trump Organization, just finished serving three months at Rikers Island after pleading guilty to receiving $1.7 million in unreported job perks.

Loyalty to Donald Trump is like First Avenue in Manhattan: one way. History has shown time and again that Donald cares for no one other than himself, said Cohen, who has since turned on Trump and eventually tried to win leniency by cooperating with prosecutors.

Nauta, according to the indictment unsealed Friday, played a crucial role in the alleged scheme with Trump, who is charged with 37 counts of illegally hoarding classified documents and obstructing the governments efforts to get them back.

The government alleges Nauta helped pack Trumps boxes before he left the White House and repeatedly moved them to various rooms at Mar-a-Lago in response to Trumps requests.

At one point, the indictment alleges, Nauta discovered several boxes had fallen over in the storage room, dumping their contents on the floor. Nauta snapped and shared photographs of the scene, which included a document with a visible marking warning it was restricted to only the Five Eyes intelligence alliance of the U.S., U.K., Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

Nauta was key to Trumps investigation early on, with FBI agents grilling him about the movement of boxes inside Mar-a-Lago weeks before serving their search warrant at the property. Like other witnesses close to Trump, though, his answers to law enforcement put him in legal jeopardy.

Although prosecutors say Nauta moved boxes of documents to Trumps residence for his review at his direction, he lied to agents by saying he wasnt aware of that happening, according to the indictment. And when agents asked if he knew where on the property the boxes had been stored, he said, I wish, I wish I could tell you. I dont know. I dont I honestly just dont know.

Nautas attorney, Stanley Woodward, declined to answer questions about the charges or any efforts to get his client to turn on the former president, but confirmed the two would appear together.

Nauta faces six federal charges, including conspiracy to obstruct justice, corruptly concealing a document or record and making false statements. His inclusion in the indictment was met by protest from Trump, who praised Nauta as a wonderful man who had done a fantastic job!

They are trying to destroy his life, like the lives of so many others, hoping that he will say bad things about Trump. He is strong, brave, and a Great Patriot. The FBI and DOJ are CORRUPT! he wrote.

Ty Cobb, the former White House attorney who served as Trumps lawyer during the Russia investigation, said he felt sorry for Nauta, whom he described as a dutiful worker who nods and then does what hes been told to do.

I think Walt is easy prey for the president because this is a dedicated patriot, he said. The proudest moment he ever had was being named valet to the president and sadly the president he got named valet for was Trump.

Cobb recalled Nauta stopping by his home, checking in on him and fetching him club soda when he was working late. He said he remembered how Nauta noticed after dozens of uneaten hamburgers that Cobb didnt eat meat and quietly began substituting salmon for his lunches.

I think its really sad that people were not able to convince him of his misplaced loyalty, Cobb said of Nautas decision not to cooperate with prosecutors. He should be a witness. He shouldnt be a defendant. But you can only dangle that opportunity for so long before you have to shoot. So I think its tragic.

John Dean, the White House counsel who testified against former President Richard Nixon over Watergate and later served four months for obstructing justice, said that he would advise Nauta to turn against Trump.

He could strike a good deal and help put it away for the government, he said on CNN.

As for Cohen, he gave grand jury testimony over the hush money payments that led to the first-ever criminal charges against a former president. Trump was indicted in March in New York on 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection to the payouts to the women who alleged sexual encounters with him. Trump has denied the allegations and any criminal wrongdoing.

Weisselberg, who testified against the Trump Organization at his trial, said on the witness stand that neither Trump nor his family knew about the tax scheme. Prosecutors maintained Trump knew exactly what was going on.

Cohen said Nauta should learn from his own experience that devotion to Trump isnt worth the consequences.

I predict Walt will suffer the exact same outcome as the rest of us who have all been thrown under the bus for the benefit of Donald J. Trump, Cohen said, describing just another Trump acolyte whose life has been turned completely upside down for his misguided loyalty to a man who didnt deserve it.

___

Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.

Excerpt from:
Walt Nauta is the latest Trump loyalist to face potential jail time after working for him - The Associated Press

Former President Donald J. Trump and his personal aide, Walt Nauta, were ordered by a federal magistrate judge on Tuesday to not discuss their criminal case, even though the two work closely and see each other practically every day.

Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman, who oversaw the hearing, said that any discussions related to the case must go through their lawyers. Mr. Trump and Mr. Nauta have been charged with conspiring to obstruct a federal investigation into Mr. Trumps handling of dozens of classified documents after he left office.

Mr. Nauta did not enter a plea. A lawyer for Mr. Nauta, who is charged with lying to investigators and scheming with Mr. Trump to conceal boxes containing classified documents from the F.B.I. and federal prosecutors, asked for a two-week extension because he needed a local lawyer to sponsor him.

The restrictions which do not apply to other topics of conversation are common for co-defendants in a criminal matter, but they could be particularly challenging to uphold given that Mr. Nautas job is to follow the former president through his days, attending to various needs. To underscore Mr. Nautas proximity to Mr. Trump, Mr. Nauta was riding with him from Mr. Trumps club, Doral, to the courthouse for Tuesdays hearing.

The two men talk frequently and have for most of the last two years as Mr. Nauta first served as a valet in the White House and now serves as an aide to Mr. Trump in his post-presidential life. The former president tends to treat his close personal aides as sounding boards for all manner of topics.

Mr. Trump is hardly known for his restraint under typical circumstances, but especially when told to do something by a person in a position of authority. And an edict not to discuss a case that has consumed Mr. Trumps thinking for weeks poses even more of a challenge.

The same restriction on the defendants communications was also applied to witnesses in the case, a list of which the government is expected to draw up. That poses a similar challenge to the situation with Mr. Nauta: A number of Mr. Trumps advisers, current and former Mar-a-Lago staff members, and even some of his lawyers have been interviewed in the case.

Continued here:
Trump Ordered Not to Discuss Case With Walt Nauta - The New York Times

Walt Nauta, aid to former President Donald Trump, follows Trump carrying clothing as they board his airplane at Palm Beach International Airport on March 13, 2023.

Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images

In every Trump scandal, there is a Trump lackey. Every one of them has served as a proxy for the biggest lackey of them all: the Republican Party.

The newest lackey is Walt Nauta, Donald Trumps body man, who was indicted last week, along with his boss, in the classified documents criminal case.

But he is just the latest in a long line of lackeys who have faced ruin, thanks to their close ties to Trump. Some are low-level employees like Nauta, while others are well-paid professionals, like attorney Michael Cohen or former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, both of whom ended up in prison as a result of their loyalty.

What they all have in common is that they have weak personalities and were easily seduced by Trump into doing his bidding, even when they knew that what he was asking them to do was immoral or illegal, or both.

Trump is a predator: He hunts for people he can convince to commit crimes and then do jail time on his behalf. Then he moves on, leaving the wreckage of their lives behind.

But each Trump lackey is a stand-in for the entire GOP, which has surrendered its soul to Donald Trump. The Republican Party today is dominated by insipid personalities easily swayed by Trumps demagoguery and eager to be told what to do by an autocrat.

Among the weakest are the other Republican candidates who are supposedly running for the partys 2024 presidential nomination. They are now acting like the enablers of an alcoholic; since Trumps indictment in the classified documents case was announced last Friday, almost all of them have been eagerly defending Trump, insisting that he is the victim of a partisan political witch hunt. With every pro-Trump statement, they are increasing the likelihood that he will defeat them for the nomination next year. They are wallowing in their own political masochism.

Of course, the insurrectionist mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, in order to try to keep Trump in power was just one giant group of Trump lackeys. More than a thousand of them have already faced arrest and prosecution, while Trump has not yet faced justice for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Few Trump lackeys have woken up in time to save themselves by flipping and testifying against him.

Will Walt Nauta wake up? Thats one of the big unanswered questions in the classified documents case. Special counsel Jack Smith clearly decided to charge Nauta in order to pressure him to cut a deal. If Nauta were to testify against Trump, who will make his first court appearance in the case on Tuesday, the governments case would probably become a slam dunk.

The 40-year-old Nauta is the classic Trump lackey: someone who allowed his entire identity to get wrapped up in his proximity to Donald Trump.

While in the Navy, Nauta served in the White House cafeteria and later as a military valet for Trump. He caught Trumps eye and left the Navy to work as his body man after he left office. Nauta became a constant presence by Trumps side; the indictment in the classified documents case summed up Nautas role in Trumps post-presidential world in one sentence: Nauta reported to Trump, worked closely with Trump, and traveled with Trump.

Nauta appears to have been involved from the very beginning in Trumps efforts to steal and hide classified documents on his way out of the White House. As Trump was leaving office in January 2021, Nauta was one of the people who helped box things up for him and move documents from the White House to his home at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. Nauta and other Trump staffers initially stored them on the stage in a Mar-a-Lago ballroom, and Nauta later helped move the boxes to the business center at the club.

Nauta knew from the start just how important Trump considered the documents he was keeping at Mar-a-Lago. When one employee wanted to move the boxes so that the business center could be freed up for other uses, another employee texted a warning: Whoa!! Ok so potus specifically asked Walt for those boxes to be in the business center because they are his papers, according to the indictment in the classified documents case. Proof that Nauta knew that Trump was hiding classified documents came on December 7, 2021, according to the indictment. Thats when Nauta found that several boxes being kept in a Mar-a-Lago storage room had fallen and that their contents had spilled out, including a document marked SECRET/REL TO USA FVEY. Those markings showed that the document was classified, and that it was only supposed to be distributed within the Five Eyes intelligence alliance of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Nauta took photos of the spilled documents and texted the photos to another Trump employee, thus providing evidence later obtained by prosecutors that he knew there were classified documents included in Trumps stored boxes.

Nauta only got into legal trouble in the classified documents case when he lied to the FBI about moving boxes filled with documents at Trumps request, when Trump was trying to hide the documents from the government. Trump was playing a stupid game of hide and seek, moving the documents from one room to another in Mar-a-Lago, and Nauta was the stooge who followed Trumps orders and kept moving the boxes for him. Between May 23 and June 2, 2022, Nauta moved 64 boxes from the Mar-a-Lago storage room and took them to Trumps residence in Mar-a-Lago so that Trump could go through them and find the documents he wanted to keep and hide, according to the indictment. By that time, Trump had already been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury demanding that he return all of the classified documents that he still held. Instead of complying with the subpoena, Trump ordered Nauta to start moving the boxes from the storage room up to the residence. Nauta began moving the boxes up to the residence on the same day that Trump met with his lawyers to discuss the subpoena.

The FBI gave Nauta an opportunity to answer easy questions to avoid legal jeopardy, but he didnt take it. The FBI asked Nauta if he was aware of any boxes being brought to [Trumps] home his suite at Mar-a-Lago. Nauta said no. He was then asked whether you have any information that could that would that could help us understand, like, where they were kept, how were they kept, were they secured, were they locked?

I wish, I wish I could tell you, Nauta lied. I dont know. I honestly just dont know.

With his lies to the FBI, Nautas status as a Trump lackey was complete.

Go here to read the rest:
Trump Is a Predator Who Feeds on Lackeys - The Intercept

Donald Trump delivers remarks Saturday in Greensboro, N.C. Win McNamee/Getty Images hide caption

Donald Trump delivers remarks Saturday in Greensboro, N.C.

Former President Donald Trump is expected to appear in a Miami courthouse on Tuesday following last week's unsealing of a federal indictment accusing him of mishandling classified documents.

Trump is facing 37 federal charges, including obstruction and unlawful retention of defense information. Federal prosecutors say Trump illegally stored dozens of highly sensitive documents everywhere from bathrooms to ballrooms at his Florida resort, refusing to return them to the FBI and National Archives.

Trump's appearance at the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. U.S. Courthouse on Tuesday will mark his second appearance as a criminal defendant. He was also arraigned in a New York courthouse in April on charges of falsifying business records related to hush money payments.

Still, Tuesday's court appearance is likely to mark a new era in his winding political tenure as the charges levied against him grow in number and severity, all as he mounts a 2024 presidential reelection bid.

Here's what to expect as the political world watches.

Trump's hearing is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET, according to the former president and his lawyers. But before he can appear in court, he'll need to surrender for pretrial services, including booking and processing.

There's a good chance the public won't see any of this happening, says Jay Weaver, a long-time court reporter with the Miami Herald.

Weaver told NPR's Weekend Edition that the federal courthouse is connected to an underground garage. That tunnel could provide a secure spot for Trump to be electronically finger-printed.

As for handcuffs and a mugshot? Those steps probably won't be necessary in this controlled environment with such a high-profile figure, Weaver says. Skipping both of those steps would be consistent with what transpired ahead of his Manhattan arraignment in April.

One unknown is when, precisely, the pretrial processing might happen.

As of Monday afternoon, Trump's private plane had arrived in Miami.

Trump is scheduled to make remarks at a fundraising event in Bedminster again on Tuesday night. He took a similar tactic after also being arraigned in New York in April, taking to his home turf in Mar-a-Lago in Florida for a campaign speech in which he described himself as an innocent man and political martyr.

Nope. Unlike with the Manhattan court appearance, cameras are not allowed in the federal court.

Some reporters will be allowed to watch and share electronic updates though, so the public will get an account of what transpires.

Trump arrives at the courtroom at the Manhattan Criminal Court in New York in April. Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Trump arrives at the courtroom at the Manhattan Criminal Court in New York in April.

It's unclear which judge will oversee Tuesday's hearing, but we do know his case has been assigned to Judge Aileen M. Cannon, and it could be the first time the two come face-to-face.

Trump appointed Cannon to the bench in 2020. She surprised legal experts by ruling in Trump's favor last summer, appointing a special master to review documents seized by the FBI from Mar-a-Lago. The move temporarily stopped federal prosecutors from continuing their investigation into the documents.

If Trump is convicted and Cannon remains on the case, she would be responsible for determining the sentence, including any prison time.

It's unclear whether Trump will return for an arraignment at a later date or enter his plea on Tuesday.

His attorney Alina Habba, who is not part of the team representing him in the classified documents case, told Fox News on Sunday that Trump would not plan to seek a plea deal "especially when he's not done anything wrong," she added. "He would never admit guilt."

Trump's personal aide, Walt Nauta, has also been summoned to appear in court at the same time. Nauta is listed as a co-defendant in the case, with federal prosecutors saying he helped Trump move and hide boxes of classified documents.

In another similarity with the Manhattan court appearance, Trump is again asking his supporters to mobilize for protest.

"We need strength at this point. Everyone is afraid to do anything. They're afraid to talk. They have to go out and protest peacefully," Trump said in a radio interview hosted by his former advisor, Roger Stone, on Sunday afternoon.

"It is essential that they keep it peaceful, civil and legal," Stone emphasized.

Laura Loomer, a right-wing activist, tweeted about plans for a "peaceful rally" outside the courthouse, urging attendees to bring pro-Trump attire and "love" for the former president.

But not all of Trump's supporters were using words like "peaceful" in discussing plans of action.

Kari Lake, the Republican firebrand from Arizona, alluded to possible violence in a press conference on Saturday, saying, "We're at war, people," and "If you want to get to President Trump, you're going to have to go through me, and you're going to have to go through 75 million Americans just like me."

Lake is planning a rally in support of Trump in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Monday night.

The former president's Republican allies in Congress have also used sharp rhetoric while coming to Trump's defense, pledging to investigate the Department of Justice for a perceived weaponization of government.

Some also evoked war-like postures in social media posts about Tuesday's arraignment.

"Eye for an eye," wrote Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona. "We've now reached a war phase."

"Buckle up. 1/50K know your bridges. Rock steady calm," wrote Louisiana Rep. Clay Higgins in apparent reference to military terms. Two days later he backpedaled, telling all "patriots" not to "trip the wire" the mainstream media laid.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez repeatedly said during a press conference Monday that he believes in the Constitution and people's right to express their First Amendment right to protest, "but we also believe in law and order."

Police Chief Manny Morales also spoke during the conference to brief the city ahead of the expected protests.

"Since the moment the announcement was made, we have been planning and preparing to ensure that the city of Miami is safe and secure," Morales said. "I can assure all our residents, our stakeholders and the visitors that are in the city at this time that we are working very closely with our federal, state and local partners to make sure that we have a comprehensive approach."

Morales said officials are maintaining a unified command post to coordinate a police response and emergency services in the city.

Suarez said he is confident in the police department's ability to maintain order and peace ahead of Trump's court appearance given Miami's past experience in handling protests after George Floyd's death that lasted days in the city.

Morales said any plans for street closures or detours will be made tomorrow depending on the size of crowds.

Special counsel Jack Smith pledged on Friday that he and his team would work to ensure the former president received a speedy trial but it's unclear that the president's legal team would choose speed themselves.

Federal law stipulates that a "speedy trial" is one that starts no later than 70 days after an arraignment. But that doesn't account for defense motions, and in this case, there could be plenty, according to Weaver.

"There's going to be motions to dismiss it on the basis of selective prosecution," he told NPR on Saturday. "You prosecuted me, but you didn't prosecute Hillary Clinton or President Joe Biden for possessing classified documents, as well."

Weaver is also expecting delays over the choice of venue (a possible move to West Palm Beach, which could see a jury pool more favorable to Trump) and delays related to the Classified Protection Act (the defense attorney might need a security clearance just to review the records included as evidence).

That means a trial could land right in the thick of Trump's 2024 presidential campaign as the former president told Politico this weekend, he'd stump from prison if necessary.

"I'll never leave," Trump reportedly said. "Look, if I would have left, I would have left prior to the original race in 2016. That was a rough one."

Read the rest here:
What to know about Donald Trump's Miami court appearance on Tuesday - NPR