Trump aide Walt Nauta's arraignment postponed again because he couldn't get local counsel
- Nauta, Trump's personal aide, was supposed to be arraigned Tuesday in the classified documents case.
- He wasn't able to get local counsel or make it to the arraignment in person.
MIAMI — Former President Donald Trump's personal aide, Waltine Nauta, a defendant in the classified documents case, received another extension on Tuesday for his arraignment after he failed to secure local counsel.
His attorney, Stanley Woodward, appeared on his behalf and told the court that Nauta hadn't been able to find an attorney authorized to practice in the South Florida District, and requested an extension until July 6. Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres granted the extension, saying, "You need to try to have that be your drop-dead deadline."
Nauta was not required to appear at the arraignment in person, though he tried, according to Woodward. He said Nauta was at Newark Liberty International Airport for eight hours on Monday — where numerous flights were delayed because of thunderstorms and flash-flood warnings in the area. He was unable to get a flight in time for his court appearance, Woodward said.
Torres ruled that Nauta had "good cause" for not appearing in person. He set the new arraignment date for July 6 after Jay Bratt, a prosecutor for Department of Justice, noted that the arraignment should occur before a pre-trial hearing set for July 14.
Woodward said that Nauta wasn't likely to appear in person on July 6 because of "logistical hurdles" that he didn't explain, and said a local counsel would appear instead. Nauta's legal team will have to file paperwork about his representation on July 5, Torres said.
Woodward himself won't be able to appear at the July 14 pre-trial hearing, he told the judge, because he's already scheduled to be in court on another case.
Though Nauta was taken into custody in a Miami courthouse a block away alongside Trump on June 13, he wasn't arraigned nor did he enter a plea that day because at that time he didn't yet have an attorney from Florida representing him. Like Trump, Nauta didn't have to post a bond and won't face restrictions on his travel as the case moves forward.
US Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman, the judge presiding over the June 13 proceedings, ordered Trump and Nauta not to discuss the case with each other unless they did so through their lawyers.
Federal prosecutors allege that Nauta helped pack Trump's boxes before he left the White House and repeatedly moved them around Mar-a-Lago, Trump's residence and private club, at the ex-president's request.
Trump directed Nauta "to move boxes of documents to conceal them from Trump's attorney, the FBI, and the grand jury," the indictment alleges.
Nauta, a Navy veteran, is a longtime personal aide for Trump. He started working for Trump as a White House valet, a role that includes being a personal assistant, messenger, and errand runner for the president.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon, who Trump appointed when he was president, is expected to preside over the trial itself. Cannon set a tentative schedule to have the trial over by September, though the prosecution asked for the trial to be pushed to December.