According to a person familiar with the situation, the Justice Department is attempting to re-interview a Donald Trump associate who was seen transporting boxes of secret documents to the former president’s Florida residence on security camera footage.
Investigators looking into the mishandling of confidential government records at Mar-a-Lago have already spoken with Walt Nauta. The source, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, said Lago and prosecutors want to meet with him once again in order to attempt to understand how boxes ended up being moved from a storage area at the property.
A Justice Department spokesman did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
The Justice Department is investigating potential violations of multiple criminal statutes, including unlawful retention of national defence information and obstruction. It’s unclear if anyone will face charges.
When prosecutors in a court filing described how classified documents were “likely concealed and removed” from a Mar-a-Lago storage room in a potential effort to obstruct the investigation and hinder Justice Department efforts to recover the records, the obstruction aspect of the investigation came into the spotlight.
The Justice Department in May issued a subpoena seeking the return of classified records taken from the White House to Mar-a-Lago after Trump’s term had ended.
On June 3, law enforcement representatives came to collect the papers, and they were given an envelope containing 38 classified documents. Additionally, they gave the Trump legal team the directive to keep the boxes of top-secret documents in the storage space until further notice.
But FBI agents came to believe that more documents remained at the home, and that there had been efforts to obstruct their probe.
On August 8, they returned with a court-authorized search warrant and gathered more than 100 classified documents, including top-secret ones.
The individual who spoke with the AP declined to describe in detail Nauta’s statement to the authorities. The Washington Post reported earlier this month that a Trump associate, since identified as Nauta, told the FBI that he had moved boxes at Trump’s explicit direction.
One source with knowledge of the situation was cited by the New York Times, which earlier today reported that prosecutors wanted another interview with Nauta, as claiming that Nauta said he had followed Trump’s orders. However, according to a different source quoted by the publication, Nauta was less detailed about what he had been informed.
Trump adviser will be questioned further in Mar-a-Lago investigation
About Author
