Trump aide arraignment pushed back in classified documents case

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - A man charged with mishandling classified government documents alongside former President Donald Trump will have his arraignment at a later date after his flight to the state of Florida was delayed, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Walt Nauta, who served as a military valet to Trump and then a personal aide after he left office, will be arraigned July 6, according to multiple reports. An attorney for Nauta reportedly told Judge Edwin Torres that his client apologizes to the court after his flight from Newark, New Jersey was canceled.

Stanley Woodward told Torres that Nauta has yet to retain a local attorney to represent him during the forthcoming proceedings, according to CNN.

Nauta was charged alongside Trump in a multi-count indictment earlier this month in a landmark federal case against a former US president.

Trump pleaded not guilty June 12 to 37 counts brought by federal prosecutors in connection with his alleged retention of classified government records after he left office.

The investigation kicked off after the National Archives and Records Administration retrieved 15 boxes of government files, including 184 classified documents, in January 2022. It subsequently handed them over to the FBI as it referred the matter to the bureau.

Trump and Nauta are charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice and concealing documents from federal investigators.

Trump has maintained that the case is politically-motivated, a charge denied by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who was tapped to independently carry out the federal probe by US Attorney General Merrick Garland in November.