Former President Donald Trump said Friday that one of his personal aides had also been indicted in special counsel Jack Smith’s classified documents probe — hours after Trump’s now-former attorney claimed a prosecutor “extorted” one of the aide’s lawyers.
“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,” Trump, 76, wrote on Truth Social. “He has done a fantastic job! They are trying to destroy his life, like the lives of so many others, hoping that he will say bad things about ‘Trump.’ He is strong, brave, and a Great Patriot. The FBI and DOJ are CORRUPT!”
In a CNN interview Thursday night, James Trusty claimed prosecutor Jay Bratt had threatened to sink Nauta attorney Stanley Woodward’s application for a federal judgeship.
“He apparently, along with five other people in his presence from DOJ, extorted a very well-respected, very intelligent lawyer from Washington, DC, saying essentially, ‘If you want this judgeship that’s on Joe Biden’s desk, you have to flip your guy to cooperate against the President of the United States,’” Trusty added.
Bratt said Woodward wasn’t a “Trump guy” and was going to do “the right thing” with respect to Nauta, who went with Trump to Mar-a-Lago to serve as the former president’s body man after he left office, a source familiar with the meeting told The Post.
Immediately after pointing out that Nauta had given conflicting statements to prosecutors about the retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, Bratt brought up Woodward’s bid for the federal bench, according to Trusty and The Guardian, which first reported on the incident.
Bratt, who serves as chief of the Justice Department’s counterintelligence and export control section for its National Security Division, had asked a federal court to seal the affidavit that led to the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8, 2022.
Trusty spoke with CNN about what he called a “corrupt and politicized” process hours after Trump announced his indictment on seven counts reportedly related to a violation of the Espionage Act and charges of obstruction of justice, destruction or falsification of records and conspiracy.
“This is the guy who wanted to do a raid before they even had a subpoena out,” Trusty told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins of Bratt.
“So we’re going to want some discovery about just how far ranging this criminal activity was by prosecutors,” he added, mentioning an email exchange “from the guy who actually did the extortion message” who was quoted as saying “they’re not going to worry about their own dirty house.”
The stunning allegations have been outlined in a sealed letter to DC US District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg.
Neither the Department of Justice nor Woodward responded to requests for comment.
On Friday morning, the former president posted that Trusty had resigned as his legal counsel, which the lawyer confirmed in a separate statement.
“For purposes of fighting the Greatest Witch Hunt of all time, now moving to the Florida Courts, I will be represented by Todd Blanche, Esq., and a firm to be named later,” Trump said, appointing the attorney who is already handling his Manhattan “hush money” case.
“I want to thank Jim Trusty and John Rowley for their work, but they were up against a very dishonest, corrupt, evil, and ‘sick’ group of people, the likes of which has not been seen before. We will be announcing additional lawyers in the coming days. When will Joe Biden be Indicted for his many crimes against our Nation? MAGA!”
In their statement, Trusty and Rowley said they had resigned as Trump’s counsel and would no longer represent him in either the document case or Smith’s ongoing investigation of the 45th president’s role in the Capitol riot.
“It has been an honor to have spent the last year defending him, and we know he will be vindicated in his battle against the Biden Administration’s partisan weaponization of the American justice system,” they said of Trump. “Now that the case has been filed in Miami, this is a logical moment for us to step aside and let others carry the cases through to completion.
“We have no plans to hold media appearances that address our withdrawals or any other confidential communications we’ve had with the president or his legal team.”