{"id":2232847,"date":"2024-04-29T16:00:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-29T20:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-co-defendant-claims-doj-retaliated-against-him-in-classified-documents-case\/"},"modified":"2024-04-29T16:01:53","modified_gmt":"2024-04-29T20:01:53","slug":"trump-co-defendant-claims-doj-retaliated-against-him-in-classified-documents-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-co-defendant-claims-doj-retaliated-against-him-in-classified-documents-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Co-defendant in Trump case alleges DOJ retaliation over classified documents"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrump-co-defendant-claims-doj-retaliated-against-him-in-classified-documents-case%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2232847&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Walt Nauta, a co-defendant in former \u2063President Donald Trump\u2019s classified documents case, seeks charge dismissal, alleging unjust targeting\u200b by\u2063 the Department of Justice (DOJ). Nauta&#8217;s defense attorneys claim \u200bthe DOJ retaliated due to his Fifth Amendment assertion. Nauta&#8217;s plea for dismissal was initially\u200d sealed but has \u200bnow\u200d been revealed by\u2063 Judge Aileen Cannon. In the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/judge-orders-trump-not-to-reveal-docs-case-evidence-without-permission\/\" title=\"Judge restricts Trump from disclosing case evidence without permission.\">classified documents case involving<\/a> former President Donald \u2063Trump, \u2062co-defendant Walt Nauta aims to dismiss charges, citing unfair\u2064 treatment by the Department of Justice (DOJ). Allegations of DOJ retaliation following \u2063Nauta&#8217;s \u200bFifth Amendment assertion have\u200b surfaced. Judge Aileen Cannon recently unsealed Nauta&#8217;s dismissal request.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Walt Nauta, a co-defendant in former President Donald Trump\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/classified-documents\/?utm_source=google&#038;utm_medium=cpc&#038;utm_campaign=WE_Pmax_website-audience_tCPA(0.25)&#038;gad_source=1&#038;gclid=Cj0KCQjwir2xBhC_ARIsAMTXk85zwiN3fDf6Vl4NeEPG2eIEYGQDCadhCQxEWBe2M0p3pxm5et95iXAaAjjwEALw_wcB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>classified documents<\/a> case, is asking a judge to dismiss his charges over claims the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/department-of-justice\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Department of Justice<\/a> unfairly targeted him, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/live-6-pm-et-ntd-evening-news-full-broadcast-sept-15\/\" title=\"Watch the complete NTD Evening News broadcast at 6 PM ET today.\">recently unsealed court filings<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Nauta\u2019s defense attorneys said their client\u2019s decision to exercise his Fifth Amendment rights at one point during the initial stages of the investigation had prompted the DOJ to punish Nauta by prosecuting him, when others had engaged in the \u201csame type of conduct\u201d that Nauta did, the attorneys wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Nauta made the dismissal request in February, but it had been sealed until Friday evening. The Florida court docket shows Trump filed a similar argument that his charges should be dismissed on the grounds that they were \u201cselective and vindictive,\u201d but the actual filing remains sealed.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Aileen Cannon has over the past week unsealed several previously nonpublic filings, and she has indicated that three of Trump\u2019s dismissal arguments, including the selective and vindictive one, will be unsealed by May 2.<\/p>\n<p>Cannon has not yet ruled on whether she will dismiss any of Nauta\u2019s or Trump\u2019s charges based on the selective and vindictive argument. Trump was charged with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-attends-florida-hearing-as-arguments-over-classified-documents-intensify\/\" title=\"Trump attends Florida hearing amid escalating dispute over classified documents\">illegally retaining national defense information<\/a>, while both Trump and Nauta were charged with obstructing a federal investigation.<\/p>\n<p>Nauta, for his part, detailed in his argument that he had been extensively cooperative with federal investigators but that the DOJ turned on Nauta because of one casual meeting that occurred in May 2022 between Nauta\u2019s attorney and David Raskin, who worked on behalf of special counsel Jack Smith.<\/p>\n<p>Raskin invited Nauta\u2019s attorney Stanley Woodward to \u201cgrab a coffee or something\u201d in a manner that made the meeting seem informal, according to an unsealed email.<\/p>\n<p>At the meeting, however, Raskin demanded Nauta\u2019s \u201cfull cooperation\u201d in the classified documents investigation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn particular, Mr. Raskin declined any such proposition to proffer by Mr. Woodward,\u201d Nauta\u2019s attorneys wrote, noting that while they discussed one charge that could be brought against Nauta at the meeting, more charges surprisingly surfaced in a target letter Nauta later received.<\/p>\n<p>Defense attorneys said this \u201canimus\u201d caused special counsel Jack Smith to bring charges against Nauta even though others had engaged in the \u201csame type of conduct\u201d as Nauta regarding moving Trump\u2019s boxes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe current discovery in the present case also reveals that several individuals were involved in the same type of conduct \u2014 moving the boxes \u2014 in the same or similar time, manner, and place as Mr. Nauta, but they themselves were not criminally investigated themselves for that conduct,\u201d the defense attorneys wrote.<\/p>\n<p>In a newly unsealed response, prosecutors countered that Nauta\u2019s \u201cclaim of selective prosecution is grounded in comparison to two individuals who, like Nauta, were employed by codefendant Donald J. Trump but whose conduct was not remotely similar to his own.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other recently unsealed filings <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/2978690\/judge-unseals-records-trump-classified-documents-case\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>revealed<\/a> that the indictment was a product of a collaboration between the Biden White House, the DOJ, and the National Archives and Records Administration.<\/p>\n<p>The filings show that months before February 2022, when NARA referred its classified documents concerns to the DOJ, NARA was communicating with DOJ and White House officials about the matter.<\/p>\n<p>Former Archivist David Ferriero, who was in charge of NARA at the time, wrote a draft letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland in September 2021 seeking \u201cassistance\u201d with what he described as \u201csuspected removal or destruction of Presidential records.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The unsealed documents also revealed that NARA\u2019s counsel had a meeting that same month about the matter with then-White House chief of staff Ron Klain and Biden counsel Dana Remus.<\/p>\n<p>Trump has argued that NARA and the Biden administration colluded to prosecute him unfairly for political purposes.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Walt Nauta, a co-defendant in ex-President Trump&#8217;s case on classified documents, seeks charge dismissal, alleging unjust targeting by the DOJ. Court filings reveal Nauta&#8217;s defense invoking Fifth Amendment rights in the case&#8217;s early stages<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":2232848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP23222544268724-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2232847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP23222544268724-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2232847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2232847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2232847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2232848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2232847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2232847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2232847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}