Let's talk about the laptop

No, not THAT laptop.

Former President Donald Trump's legal team turned over a folder with classification markings found [...] at his Mar-a-Lago resort to federal agents, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.

[...]

Trump attorney James Trusty turned over the folder with classification markings to federal investigators, and also informed agents that it had been electronically copied to a laptop of a current Trump aide, the sources said.

[...]

The laptop was not retrieved on the Mar-a-Lago grounds, the sources said.

  ABC

This got by me back in the early days of the Mar-A-Lago documents case.

 [...] 

Judge Cannon will make sure this case never gets to trial.  Or, at the very least, not before the election in November.

And a reminder - DeOliveira is cooperating.

UPDATE 07:48 pm:

The hidden room and the door to nowhere

FBI officials who searched former President Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago estate in 2022 did not search a locked closet and “hidden room” for White House documents, ABC News reported Thursday, raising questions about whether Trump concealed more classified documents from the federal government.

  Forbes

Let me guess. 

Of course, with Trump, he could have private contraband and/or blackmailing material under lock and key. It wouldn't have to be government documents. Especially considering he believes he's entitled to the government documents for having been president.

[I]nvestigators learned after the search that Trump had changed the lock on months earlier—while his attorney searched the property for classified materials to turn over the government in response to a subpoena.

Investigators found the locked closet, but were reportedly told that the space behind the door “went nowhere” and so decided not to try and open it

Say what!? Oh, that LOCKED door goes nowhere. Nobody ever would believe that. Why did the FBI? They didn't believe that. They just decided for some reason to leave it alone.

Officials also were not aware at the time of a “hidden room” in Trump’s bedroom, and thus did not search it.

Amazing.

And, speaking of the Mar-a-Lago scene...

Of course Trump hired him.  He was Trump's kind of guy.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 12:18 pm:

What the hell????

Setting up an appeal or dismissal?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 08/31/2023:

A fuller explanation of the latest in the Georgia documents case with the news of a change in testimony from Yuscil Taveras is laid out in this article from Public Notice. 

Smith heading off a mistrial in Florida

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

" It tells us Jack Smith is playing hardball"

From Opening Arguments:

Trump's valet and co-defendant in SDFL, filed a motion to continue (that is, delay) the Section 2 CIPA conference scheduled for this Friday, July 14.

[...]

Ordinarily - and I can't stress this enough - these kinds of motions are beyond routine. If opposing counsel can't be at a status conference, you just reschedule the conference out of convenience, because someday YOUR lawyer will be out of town.

AND a Section 2 CIPA conference is largely ministerial - but is also the key first step to moving the case along expeditiously.

So, the basis for Nauta's motion is that his Trump-appointed & paid-for lawyer, Stan Woodward (who also represents a potential witness against both defendants!) isn't available this Friday.

All of that seemed kind of fishy to the DOJ. [...] Also, moving this conference & slowing things down doesn't particularly help Nauta, but it's at the core of Trump's strategy (to the extent that he has one).

[...]

It's still a surprise to see Jack Smith coming out swinging. Less than two hours later, the government filed its opposition to Nauta's motion. It makes two arguments.

First, Nauta has his own local counsel & his Trump-appointed lackey (Woodward) could probably appear via Zoom if necessary. And second, even though Woodward hasn't yet gotten his expedited security clearance from the FBI yet.

[...]

[T]hat's because Woodward himself has refused to fill out the damn form (SF-86) despite "having been put in contact with the Litigation Security Group... three-and-a-half weeks ago."

[...]

We still think it's likely the motion will be granted & the conference moved - and not just because the motion is pending before Judge Aileen Cannon, FSW.

[...]

Win or lose, this is an interesting marker for the DOJ to lay down. It tells us Jack Smith is playing hardball & it (maybe) suggests he thinks there's something fishy going on with Trump paying for his co-defendant's lead counsel - who really ought to have flipped by now.

[...]

P.S. In Nauta's motion to continue, Woodward says he opposed the CIPA conference.

  Opening Arguments Twitter

To wit:

In response, the DOJ has politely suggested that maybe his brief just omitted the word "not." That would be unbearably stupid & is therefore probably true.

To wit:

The government also suggests that Woodward... forgot... to mention the scheduling conflict during their repeated phone calls.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

A few days here, a few days there

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 09:37 am:

About Walt Nauta

Going to get really interesting.

Finally

Sasha - that sounds Russian.

Walt Nauta, the longtime aide to former President Donald Trump who was charged alongside him in the special counsel's classified documents case, has pleaded not guilty to all charges at his arraignment in Miami.

Nauta [...] is facing six counts as part of the criminal case involving Trump's handling of classified documents. The charges include conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements.

[...]

A magistrate judge in Miami warned Nauta's attorney last week that today's arraignment should be considered the "drop dead" deadline.

  ABC

Finally. And I have no doubt he could have retained this particular attorney weeks ago.  

Nauta, 40, was then set to be arraigned last week, but an attorney for Nauta, Stan Woodward, told the judge that Nauta still had not retained local counsel, and was also unable to get to Florida due to travel issues.

Nauta wanted to "express his sincerest condolences to the court," Woodward told the judge.

Condolences? For the court's inability to get him arraigned, maybe.

"He takes very seriously the charges," Woodward said.

Obviously he doesn't.

And I'm ready for some new indictments.

"Body man" has taken on a new connotation for me now.

Is "valet" not macho sounding enough?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 07/08/2023:

This is now officially bullshit

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Unique delay tactic

The arraignment of former President Donald Trump’s valet Waltine “Walt” Nauta, who is accused of helping his former boss hide classified documents from federal investigators, has again been delayed.

Nauta’s lawyer briefly appeared in federal court in Miami on Tuesday, telling the judge Nauta had not yet found Florida legal counsel to represent him in the case. His next appearance was set for July 6.

Nauta faces six counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice, false statements, and withholding and concealing documents.

  alJazeera

When do they stop him and appoint a public defender?  Is that even allowed in this case?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Discovery in the documents case

DOJ would prefer to get Trump to plead out. It’s possible there is discovery that will make him decide going to trial will be more damaging for him than pleading out.

  Emptywheel

I doubt that.

The discovery memo also reveals that Walt Nauta testified to the grand jury on June 21 of last year.

[...]

This was days before DOJ subpoenaed surveillance footage on June 24. That puts the alleged conflict between Jay Bratt and Nauta’s attorney, Stan Woodward, in different light.

Nauta was not charged with perjury for that appearance, suggesting he already fixed his testimony before DOJ obtained the surveillance footage.

But not before his alleged lies in May helped Trump abscond to Bedminster with more classified documents.

What to expect from here

Check out the short thread analysis at Secrets and Laws, starting here:

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE :

Trump has lost his fluffer on Fox...

"Hits below the water line."

"The Trump team...They have to run the table.  They have to take out every single count, or you've got a 76-year-old man looking at a potentially terminal sentence."

The Indictment

UPDATE :  Aileen Cannon (the judge assigned to the case) on the left.

UPDATE :

Heads up

Eastern time, I presume.

The indictment was unsealed today.  

UPDATE 12:47 pm:

That makes it a conspiracy, doesn't it?

UPDATE 02:17 pm:  Video of the short conference: 

The Indictment

Jack Smith has another goody

Justice [A]dditional evidence comes as investigators have used emails and text messages from a former Trump aide to help understand key moments last year.

[...]

The new details highlight the degree to which special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the potential mishandling of hundreds of classified national security papers at Trump’s Florida home and private club has come to focus on the obstruction elements of the case — whether the former president took or directed actions to impede government efforts to collect all the sensitive records.

[...]

Investigators now suspect, based on witness statements, security camera footage, and other documentary evidence, that boxes including classified material were moved from a Mar-a-Lago storage area after the subpoena was served, and that Trump personally examined at least some of those boxes [...] . While Trump’s team returned some documents with classified markings in response to the subpoena, a later FBI search found more than 100 additional classified items that had not been turned over.

[...]

The application for court approval for that search said agents were pursuing evidence of violations of statutes including 18 USC 1519, which makes it a crime to alter, destroy, mutilate or conceal a document or tangible object “with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation or proper administration of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency.”

A key element in most obstruction cases is intent, because to bring such a charge, prosecutors have to be able to show that whatever actions were taken were done to try to hinder or block an investigation.

[...]

The Washington Post reported in October that Trump’s valet, Walt Nauta, had told investigators that he moved boxes at Mar-a-Lago at the former president’s instruction after the subpoena was issued. Smith’s team has video surveillance footage corroborating that account, The Post reported, and considers the evidence significant.

[...]

In addition, the people familiar with the investigation said, authorities have another category of evidence that they consider particularly helpful as they reconstruct events from last spring: emails and texts of Molly Michael, an assistant to the former president who followed him from the White House to Florida before she eventually left that job last year. Michael’s written communications have provided investigators with a detailed understanding of the day-to-day activity at Mar-a-Lago at critical moments.

[...]

Investigators have also amassed evidence indicating that Trump told others to mislead government officials in early 2022, before the subpoena, when the National Archives and Records Administration was working with the Justice Department to try to recover a wide range of papers, many of them not classified, from Trump’s time as president [...] . While such alleged conduct may not constitute a crime, it could serve as evidence of the former president’s intent.

[...]

Trump ignored requests from multiple advisers to return the documents to the archives over a period of a year [and] he asked advisers and lawyers to release false statements claiming he had returned all documents.

[...]

Investigators also have evidence that Trump sought advice from other lawyers and advisers on how he could keep documents after being told by some on his team that he could not [...] . They have collected evidence that multiple advisers warned Trump that trying to keep the documents could be legally perilous.

[...]

Investigators have also asked witnesses if Trump showed a particular interest in material relating to Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, people familiar with those interviews said. Milley was appointed by Trump but drew scorn and criticism from Trump and his supporters after a series of revelations in books about Milley’s efforts to rein in Trump toward the end of his term. In 2021, Trump repeatedly complained publicly about Milley, calling him an “idiot."

The people did not say whether investigators specified what material related to Milley they were focused on. The Post could not determine what has led prosecutors to press some witnesses on those specific points or how relevant they may be to the overall picture that Smith’s team is trying to build of Trump’s actions and intent.

[...]

The case stretches back to efforts by Archives officials to retrieve documents and other items from the former president in 2021, after they came to believe that some presidential records from the Trump administration — such as letters from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — were unaccounted for, and perhaps in Trump’s possession.

[...]

Smith’s team has been presenting witnesses and evidence for months to a grand jury in Washington focused on the Mar-a-Lago probe, even as a separate grand jury at the same federal courthouse hears evidence related to efforts to block the results of the 2020 election, and the state-level prosecutors in New York and Georgia press forward with their cases.

The Mar-a-Lago prosecutors recently won a court fight that allowed them to question Trump’s lawyer, Evan Corcoran, before the grand jury about what he knew about the documents.

Grand jury proceedings are secret, and Smith has given no public indication of the pace of his investigation or when he expects it to be finished.

  WaPo

We can wait, as we are currently consumed by the New York indictment.

UPDATE 04/03/2023:

UPDATE 09/18/2023:

New info on what Molly Michaels told investigators has leaked.

And in the document theft case...

A key focus for prosecutors is Walt Nauta.

[...]

Prosecutors have indicated they are skeptical of an initial account Mr. Nauta gave investigators about moving documents stored at Mar-a-Lago and are using the specter of charges against him for misleading investigators to persuade him to sit again for questioning

[...]

Proving intent is often a challenge for prosecutors, and that hurdle has repeatedly come up in various investigations into Mr. Trump. To that end, prosecutors are particularly focused on Mr. Nauta because he could provide insight into Mr. Trump’s intentions as he parried the Justice Department’s attempts to reclaim the documents from him at the same time the materials were moved around at Mar-a-Lago.

If the boxes were moved against the Justice Department’s wishes or to conceal them from the authorities, it could help prosecutors in developing the obstruction investigation.

Mr. Nauta, a native of Guam and a U.S. Navy sailor, grew close to Mr. Trump during the White House years, when he worked as a cook in the Navy mess in the White House and then as a valet in the West Wing. He was a frequent presence around Mr. Trump, bringing him the Diet Cokes he often consumes or carting things to and from the White House residence for him.

[...]

At the same time, the prosecutors are trying to force a longtime aide and ally to Mr. Trump, Kash Patel, to answer questions before a grand jury about how the documents were taken to Mar-a-Lago and how Mr. Trump, his aides and his lawyers dealt with requests from the government to return them.Mr. Patel was designated by Mr. Trump this year as one of his representatives to the National Archives and Records Administration to deal with his presidential records, particularly in relation to materials from the investigation into whether Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign had ties to Russia.

[...]

Shortly after the F.B.I. executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago in August to reclaim the classified documents, Mr. Patel publicly proclaimed that the former president had declassified the records before leaving office. But Mr. Patel refused to answer many questions this month before a grand jury in Washington hearing evidence about Mr. Trump’s handling of the documents, citing his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

  NYT

And repeating that Trump declassified records to the FBI or before a Grand Jury would certainly incriminate him.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

The hits just keep on coming

A former employee of Donald Trump has told federal agents the former president asked for boxes of records to be moved within his Florida residence after receiving a government subpoena demanding their return, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

  Reuters

That's not good.

The testimony of the key witness, coupled with surveillance footage the Justice Department also obtained, represent some of the strongest known evidence to date of possible obstruction of justice by the former Republican president.

Possible?

The employee who was working at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida was cooperating with the Justice Department and has been interviewed multiple times by federal agents, the newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the situation. The witness initially denied handling sensitive documents and in subsequent conversations with agents admitted to moving boxes at Trump’s request, the newspaper reported.

I would like to have been a fly on the wall when the employee changed their tune.

"Every other President has been given time and deference regarding the administration of documents, as the President has the ultimate authority to categorize records, and what materials should be classified," Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich told the newspaper.

Small but important detail: he's not the president.

New York state's attorney general recently filed a civil lawsuit accusing Trump and three of his adult children of fraud and misrepresentation in preparing financial statements from the family real estate company.

The Trump Organization also is set to go on trial on Oct. 24 on New York state criminal tax fraud charges.

Separately in Georgia, a grand jury in the Fulton County is probing efforts by Trump to overturn the former president's 2020 election defeat.

When it rains, it pours.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

A long-serving aide to former President Donald J. Trump was captured on security camera footage moving boxes out of a storage room at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s residence in Florida, both before and after the Justice Department issued a subpoena in May demanding the return of all classified documents, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The footage showed Walt Nauta, a former military aide who left the White House and then went to work for Mr. Trump at Mar-a-Lago, moving boxes from a storage room that became a focus of the Justice Department’s investigation.

[...]

As part of its investigation, the Justice Department has interviewed Mr. Nauta on several occasions, according to one of the people. Those interviews started before the F.B.I. executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8.

[...]

The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that Mr. Trump directed an employee who had been interviewed by the F.B.I. to move boxes at Mar-a-Lago. It is not clear whether that employee was Mr. Nauta, and a person familiar with the matter and with Mr. Trump’s orbit said it could be a different staff member.

  NYT