According to The Washington Post on Wednesday, which cited people familiar with the investigation, an employee of former President Donald Trump has told the FBI about moving boxes of paperwork at Mar-a-Lago “at the specific direction of the former president” before federal agents searched the Florida club on August 8 and found 103 classified documents.
The witness first denied handling confidential papers or boxes that may contain such data, but in subsequent interviews when the FBI got surveillance footage and other evidence, the witness’s testimony “shifted significantly,” according to the Post.
According to The Post, “the staffer who was working at Mar-a-Lago is collaborating with the Justice Department.” The witness’s story has been kept a closely-guarded secret within the Justice Department and FBI, both in order to protect the material they have obtained thus far kept a secret “In addition, the witness needed to be protected from “abuse or threats from Trump fans.”
A few hours after The Washington Post’s article went live, The New York Times reported that Walt Nauta, a “long-serving aide” to Trump, was seen on security camera footage moving boxes out of the Mar-a-Lago storage area “both before and after the Justice Department demanded that the former president turn over all classified documents he had in his possession in May.
“Nauta has responded to questions from investigators in many Justice Department interviews, but according to the Times, “is not formally participating with the government’s probe.”
The Times writes that it is unclear whether Nauta is the Trump staffer described in the Post piece “and a person with knowledge of the situation and Mr.
Trump’s inner circle suggested that it may be a different employee. “The Justice Department said in a court document that “several civilian witnesses” were consulted before a search warrant for Mar-a-Lago was obtained. There have been conflicting allegations and hypotheses about who may be collaborating with the government “inside Trump’s orbit” for months, according to the Post.
According to the Post, this new information reveals that the Justice Department possesses surveillance footage that corroborates the testimony of witnesses who worked for and were directed by Trump. The Justice Department was persuaded by this evidence that a search of Mar-a-Lago was necessary.
Taylor Budowich, a spokesperson for Trump, refused to comment on the accusations but claimed to the Post and the Times that the Justice Department is releasing information “deceptive and In an “overt and criminal act of intimidation and manipulation,” Justice Department leaks “misleading and inaccurate information to partisan cronies in the Fake News,” according to Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich, who failed to respond to inquiries about the claims.
