The arraignment of Walt Nauta has been delayed because the aide to former President Trump has not yet hired a lawyer who practices in Florida.
Nauta was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday morning in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of the former President’s retention of classified documents.
However, the rules surrounding the federal court in Miami require that practicing attorneys be a member in good standing of the Florida bar, or to be sponsored by one before appearing.
During a 10-minute hearing Tuesday morning, U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin G. Torres rescheduled Nauta’s arraignment hearing for July 6.
Nauta’s only current lawyer, Stan Woodward, arrived Tuesday at the federal courthouse in Miami without his client. Upon arrival Woodward had declined to comment about why Nauta wasn’t with him.
Nauta is facing six charges, including conspiracy to obstruct, withholding a document or record, and scheme to conceal, according to the federal indictment that was unsealed earlier this month.
The former Navy petty officer worked for Trump in the White House as a valet and continued to work as an aide to the former President after Trump left office in January 2021.
The government has accused Nauta of moving boxes filled with top-secret government materials at Trump’s Florida country club residence, Mar-a-Lago and then helping to hide them from federal officials despite a search warrant that led to an August 8 raid on the property by FBI agents.
The indictment said the FBI had recovered more than 100 classified documents in that raid.
Nauta’s arraignment comes after Trump himself pleaded not guilty to all 37 federal charges against him earlier this month.
Nauta had appeared alongside Trump at the former President’s arraignment in Miami, though he did not enter a plea at that time. At his upcoming arraignment Nauta is also expected to plead not guilty.
