The transcript of an FBI interview made public late Thursday details how an aide to former President Donald Trump characterized the boxes of sensitive documents that are now at the center of the special counsel’s case into the mishandling of classified documents from the Trump White House.
The new court documents also reveal how agents outlined the stakes of their investigation to Walt Nauta, who now faces several obstruction-related charges in the case.
For much of the May 2022 interview, Nauta describes the layout of Mar-a-Lago, what he claimed to know about where boxes of Trump’s items from the White House were stored and his assessment of what was in the boxes. The former president’s valet repeatedly claims that he believed Trump stored news clippings, hairspray, shampoo, picture frames and other miscellaneous materials in the boxes.
Nauta has been charged with conspiring to conceal documents as well as lying to the FBI in his interview about the location and movement of boxes of documents at Mar-a-Lago. He has pleaded not guilty.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon granted Nauta permission to file a version of the transcript with minor redactions ahead of a hearing Friday where he will argue that special counsel Jack Smith’s charges against him should be thrown out.
According to the transcript, investigators at one point in the interview ask Nauta whether he was aware of Trump showing a document with classified markings to people while on a plane. No such event was alleged in the indictment against Trump.
Nauta told investigators he was not aware of nor had he heard of any such incident. He noted to investigators that he normally sat at the back of the plane when traveling with the former president.
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