DOJ grand jury zeroes in on Trump

Prosecutors seek new testimony about Trump's handling of secret Mar a Lago documents

The New York Times reporters this morning that prosecutors running the investigation of Donald Trump’s handling of classified and non-classified documents he took from the White House in January of 2021 are seeking a third interview with a witness who was seen on Mar a Lago video security footage moving boxes from the basement storage room at Trump’s resort/hotel/club/residence.

The witness in question is a former Navy cook from Guam who worked in the White House mess before becoming a personal valet to Trump.  He has been described as the guy who brought Trump his Diet Cokes in the Oval Office.  After Trump lost his attempts to overturn the election and was forced to leave the White House, the former valet, Walt Nauta, followed Trump to Mar a Lago in Florida and apparently took up the same duties as a private employee of the former president.  It was in this capacity that prosecutors saw Nauta moving the boxes on the video footage from Mar a Lago.

The security video footage shows Nauta carrying the boxes as he exits the Mar a Lago storage room into a short hallway in the basement. The security footage apparently ends there and does not show where Nauta took the boxes.

In an interview earlier this year, Nauta told DOJ investigators he carried the boxes from the storage room to Trump’s residence at the direction of the former president.  During a second interview, Nauta was apparently “less specific,” about who told him to take the boxes to Trump’s residence, according to today’s report in the Times.  DOJ prosecutors are seeking a third interview with Nauta to clear up the apparent discrepancy between the first and second interviews.