Jack Smith: Trump 'attempted to enlist his own attorney' in concealing classified documents

27 February 2024

A recent filing by Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith alleges that former President Donald Trump did more than violate classified documents laws — he also tried to get his attorney to take part in his crimes.

Newsweek reported Tuesday that in his latest filing in the classified documents case in the Southern District of Florida, Smith laid out how the former president sought to loop in his own legal counsel to stymie the government's efforts in obtaining classified documents from his administration.

"When presented with a grand jury subpoena demanding the return of the remaining documents bearing classification markings, Trump attempted to enlist his own attorney in the corrupt endeavor, suggesting that he falsely tell the FBI and grand jury that Trump did not have any documents, and suggesting that his attorney hide or destroy documents rather than produce them to the government," the document read.

"Failing in his effort to corrupt the attorney, Trump enlisted his trusted body man, codefendant Waltine Nauta, in a scheme to deceive the attorney by moving boxes to conceal his [Trump's] continued possession of classified documents," the 12-page filing continued. "As a result, Trump, through his attorney, again returned only a portion of the classified documents in his possession while falsely claiming that his production was complete."

Smith went on to state how Trump — knowing that CCTV footage from his Mar-a-Lago estate would show evidence of a cover-up — looped in both Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos de Oliveira in his scheme to wipe the footage from security camera servers.

"The obstructive conduct even persisted from there. In June 2022, knowing that he had arranged for Nauta to move boxes to conceal them from Trump's attorney, and knowing that the government had subpoenaed the security video footage that would reveal that surreptitious box movement, Trump, now joined by not only Nauta but also codefendant Carlos De Oliveira, attempted to have the information-technology manager at Mar-a- Lago delete the video footage that would show the movement of boxes," the filing read.

Trump's classified documents trial is still currently scheduled for May 20, though US District Judge Aileen Cannon — whom Trump appointed to her lifetime position in 2020 — is likely to move the trial to a later date given her consistent delays in the pre-trial process.

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