Former President Donald Trump’s personal aide Walt Nauta is expected to enter a plea in a Florida federal court on Thursday after two previous attempts to arraign him in the classified documents case were postponed.
A co-defendant in the case with Trump, Nauta is accused of helping the former president hide top national security files from investigators after Trump left the White House. Trump pleaded not guilty in June to 37 felony counts after more than 100 classified documents were recovered from his Mar-a-Lago estate, according to the indictment.
Nauta arrived at the courthouse around 10:20 a.m. on Thursday.
Unknown ahead of Thursday’s appearance was whether Nauta, a military valet in Trump’s White House who followed the former president to Florida in his post-presidency, had found local counsel. The search delayed his arraignment last month.
Nauta has hired Sasha Dadan, a Florida-based attorney, according to a source familiar with the decision.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres postponed Nauta’s earlier arraignment when he did not have a permanent Florida attorney for his first hearing. The second hearing Nauta missed because of bad weather.
Nauta faces six charges, including conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, and making false statements, according to the federal indictment, which was unsealed in June.
Nauta did not enter a plea when he appeared alongside Trump in court, who pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
