Waltine Nauta, the Trump aide who is being charged alongside the former president as part of the Department of Justice’s investigation of his handling of classified documents, is a Navy veteran who went to work as Trump’s personal aide at Mar-a-Lago after the 2020 election.
Senior Trump aides have described him in the media as a “very sheepish” person who “asks permission for everything,” but was was “willing to do whatever” for Trump.
Nauta served as a valet while Trump was in office. A valet is a member of the military who works as a close personal assistant or butler. Nauta was the only White House valet that left Washington D.C. for Trump’s personal residence at Mar-a-Lago in Florida after he lost the 2020 election.
In September 2021, he left the military to work as a personal aide to Trump at Mar-a-Lago. He was put on the payroll of Save America, a Trump political action committee, last year making $135,000 a year, according to the Washington Post.
Now, Nauta is facing six charges as part of the classified documents probe, including conspiracy to obstruct, withholding a document or record and scheme to conceal, according to the 49-page federal indictment that was unsealed on Friday.
Surveillance footage allegedly showed him moving boxes out of a storage room at Mar-a-Lago before and after the DOJ issued a subpoena in May 2022 demanding all classified documents be returned.
A source told the Washington Post that Nauta initially denied moving the boxes of documents during an interview with the FBI but later said Trump told him to move the boxes during a second interview.
Trump, meanwhile, is facing 37 counts, including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document or record, concealing a document in a federal investigation, scheme to conceal, and making false statements and representations.
Earlier on Friday, Trump offered a defense of Nauta, whose legal bills are being paid by a Trump political organization, according to NBC News.
“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 on Truth Social, his social media platform.
“They are trying to destroy his life, like the lives of so many others, hoping that he will say bad things about ‘Trump,’” Trump said of Nauta. “He is strong, brave, and a Great Patriot. The FBI and DOJ are CORRUPT!”
In March, Trump advisors told the Washington Post that Nauta was “willing to do whatever” and that he fulfilled “a need for someone who wasn’t too proud to get a new tie, pick up dry cleaning, follow [Trump] around the golf course, staff his dinners, do things that a lot of people just aren’t dying to spend their whole life doing.”
The 40-year-old former White House valet is originally from Guam. He joined the Navy in 2001 and worked as a White House cook during the Obama Administration.
Nauta became a valet shortly after Trump took office and was later promoted to senior chief petty officer in September 2020. He was regularly tasked with moving boxes of documents and memos between offices and later in Mar-a-Lago after he became a personal aide to Trump.
The New York Times reported in October that Nauta had participated in DOJ interviews about his involvement in moving boxes of documents for Trump and that he had answered questions but was not “formally cooperating” with the investigation.