One of Donald Trump’s aides is being charged alongside the former president as part of the Department of Justice’s investigation of his handling of classified documents, Trump said Friday in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.
Trump also announced changes to his legal team, including that he is parting ways with two of the lawyers who have represented him throughout the special counsel investigation.
Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday that his aide, Walt Nauta, is being indicted. “I have just learned that the ‘Thugs’ from the Department of Injustice will be Indicting a wonderful man, Walt Nauta, a member of the U.S. Navy, who served proudly with me in the White House, retired as Senior Chief, and then transitioned into private life as a personal aide. He has done a fantastic job!” Trump wrote.
“They are trying to destroy his life, like the lives of so many others, hoping that he will say bad things about ‘Trump,’” the embattled former president wrote of Nauta, a former military valet who has been a key figure in the investigation. “He is strong, brave, and a Great Patriot. The FBI and DOJ are CORRUPT!”
Trump has also parted ways with lawyers Jim Trusty and John Rowley, who have represented him throughout the special counsel’s investigation and who have been directly engaged with the Department of Justice over the probe. Trump thanked both men for their work, but wrote that they “were up against a very dishonest, corrupt, evil, and ‘sick’ group of people, the likes of which has not been seen before.”
The two lawyers said Friday that they had tendered their resignations. “It has been an honor to have spent the last year defending him, and we know he will be vindicated,” they wrote in a statement, according to the New York Times.
The move comes a day after Trump announced that he was being indicted in the classified-documents probe. Trump is facing seven counts, including an espionage charge, and charges related to obstruction and making false statements, according to media reports.
Trump announced that going forward he will be represented in the classified documents case by Todd Blanche, the lawyer who is representing him in his criminal case in Manhattan. Trump said he made the change “for purposes of fighting the Greatest Witch Hunt of all time.”
“We will be announcing additional lawyers in the coming days,” Trump wrote. “When will Joe Biden be Indicted for his many crimes against our Nation? MAGA!”
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who Trump nominated for a seat in the Southern District of Florida in 2020.