Walt Nauta, who works closely with former President Donald Trump and is entangled in a legal battle over allegations of mishandling classified documents, was recently spotted alongside Trump at a LIV Golf Pro-Am event held at the Trump National Golf Club in Virginia this past May.
On Wednesday, the Department of Justice decided to drop its pursuit of two Florida men accused of aiding Trump in allegedly concealing government documents from officials. This move came as they requested the dismissal of an appeal aimed at reinstating their case against Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, an employee at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. In the official filing at the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Miami U.S. Attorney Hayden O’Byrne noted that attorneys for Nauta and De Oliveira had no objections to the case being dropped.
This development follows another shakeup at the DOJ, where officials involved in previous prosecutions of Trump by ex-special counsel Jack Smith were let go just two days earlier. The DOJ had already withdrawn an appeal meant to reinstate charges against Trump for document-related offenses, adhering to a policy that prohibits prosecuting sitting presidents.
On the same day, they also sought to have a federal judge dismiss another criminal case against Trump in Washington D.C., connected to his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election results against Joe Biden. The push to cease prosecution against Nauta and De Oliveira aligns with the belief that Trump, wielding presidential authority, could direct the DOJ’s actions in such matters. Trump has consistently argued that he and his associates have been singled out by the DOJ under Biden’s leadership for political reasons.
Jack Smith initially charged Trump in a Florida federal court, accusing him of holding onto classified documents at Mar-a-Lago after his presidency ended in January 2021, and obstructing officials’ efforts to retrieve those documents. However, in July, Judge Aileen Cannon, appointed by Trump, threw out the case, stating that Smith’s appointment violated constitutional protocols.
The DOJ’s response was to appeal Cannon’s ruling in the 11th Circuit. Nevertheless, they chose to drop the appeal concerning Trump on November 25.
