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The defense lawyer for former President Trump’s valet Walt Nauta told a judge on Tuesday that Nauta’s flight out of New Jersey was delayed and ultimately canceled, forcing the court to postpone its scheduled hearing in the case involving classified documents allegedly illegally held at Mar-a-Lago.
Attorney Stanley Woodward told Federal Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres that Nauta expressed his apologies to the court for not being present. The lawyer said Nauta, a Navy veteran who worked as Trump’s valet at the White House before joining him as a personal aide at Mar-a-Lago, still has been unable to secure a Florida-based attorney and was stuck in Newark, New Jersey, after his scheduled flight down to Florida for the arraignment sat on the tarmac for hours and then was canceled.
In turn, Torres pushed Tuesday's scheduled arraignment back until July 6 – the second time he has postponed a hearing in Nauta's case.
Former President Trump's valet Walt Nauta, center, visits Versailles restaurant with Trump, June 13, 2023, in Miami. Nauta's arraignment hearing was delayed after his flight out of New Jersey was reportedly canceled. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
"You need to really try to make it your drop-dead deadline to get somebody here," Torres told Woodward during the Miami federal hearing Monday, according to Reuters.
Woodward said he still could not yet enter a plea in a case on Nauta's behalf.
Hundreds of flights were delayed and canceled out of Newark Liberty International Airport Monday due to severe thunderstorms. Newark, as well as John F. Kennedy and La Guardia airports in New York City were experiencing ongoing delays and cancelations Tuesday.
Nauta was charged earlier this month alongside Trump in a 38-count indictment filed by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith.
Trump pleaded not guilty earlier this month to 37 counts related to the alleged mishandling of classified documents kept at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. Nauta's arraignment was postponed to give him time to find a Florida-based lawyer.
The indictment accuses Nauta of conspiring with Trump to conceal records that he had taken with him from the White House after this term ended in January 2021.
Stanley Woodward, lawyer of Walt Nauta, personal aide to former President Trump arrives at the James Lawrence King Federal Justice Building in Miami June 27, 2023. (REUTERS/Marco Bello)
Prosecutors allege that Nauta, at the former president's direction, moved boxes of documents bearing classification markings so that they would not be found by a Trump lawyer who was tasked with searching the home for classified records to be returned to the government. That, prosecutors said, resulted in a false representation to the Justice Department that a "diligent search" for classified documents had been done and that all documents responsive to a subpoena had been returned.
Meanwhile, on Monday, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon denied a Justice Department request to file under seal the names of 84 potential witnesses it wants Trump, the front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential race, to be prohibited from discussing the case with as it moves forward in court.
She said that, in her view, the Justice Department did not explain why it needed to file the list with the court or why it was necessary to seal the list from public view. Cannon also scheduled a pretrial conference for July 14 to discuss matters related to the Classified Information Procedures Act.
Walt Nauta, left, takes a phone from former President Trump during the LIV Golf Pro-Am at Trump National Golf Club, May 25, 2023, in Sterling, Virginia. Nauta was set to be arraigned on charges that he helped the former president hide classified documents that the Justice Department wanted back. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
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Last week, the Justice Department proposed a Dec. 11 trial date for Trump, requesting a postponement from a judge's initial date in August. Cannon told defense lawyers to respond to that request by July 6.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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