A newly unsealed federal indictment lays out, at some points in detail by the minute, how former President Donald Trump allegedly directed an aide to move documents to and from a Mar-a-Lago storage room in the days before Trump’s attorney searched the room for classified documents sought in a subpoena.
Trump and the aide, Walt Nauta, face several obstruction and concealment related charges stemming from the alleged conduct, the CNN reports.
All told, in the days leading up to the attorney’s search for the documents, Nauta moved 64 boxes from the storage room to the residence, according to prosecutors. He returned only 30, the indictment says.
“Neither TRUMP nor NAUTA informed Trump Attorney 1 of this information,” the indictment said.
Attorney 1, who is not named in the indictment, tracks with the role Evan Corcoran played in searching for Mar-a-Lago for documents responsive to the May 2022 subpoena.
Here’s how things played out, according to the indictment’s detailed narrative:
May 24, 2022: Nauta allegedly removed three boxes from the storage room, the day after Trump met with his attorneys to discuss how to respond to the subpoena.
May 30, 2022: Trump and Nauta allegedly spoke on the phone in the morning. An hour later, Nauta began removing a total of 50 boxes from the storage room, according to prosecutors.
An unidentified Trump family member apparently referenced the boxes presence in Trump’s residence and told Nauta they would not have room for them on a plane they were taking, according to the indictment.
Trump ended up delaying a trip to his New Jersey home, the indictment says, so he would be present at Mar-a-Lago when his attorney looked for documents responsive to the subpoena.
June 1, 2022: Nauta allegedly moved another 11 boxes from the storage room. Trump had another conversation with his attorney that day, ahead of the attorney’s search for the documents slated to take place on June 2, the indictment alleges.
After that conversation, Nauta and an unidentified employee of Mar-a-Lago, moved 30 boxes that were in the residence back to the storage room, prosecutors say.
June 3, 2022: Another Trump attorney signs an attestation certifying that a “diligent search” for the documents had been conducted and that all responsive materials had been produced.
Prosecutors say that was false, because Trump had directed Nauta to move boxes before Attorney 1’s June 2 review, so many boxes were not searched, “and many documents responsive to the May 11 Subpoena could not be found.”
Trump’s exchange with his attorney after the search: After the attorney had done the search for the documents, according to the indictment, Trump discussed with the attorney what to do with 38 documents marked as classified the attorney had found and placed in a folder.
“Did you find anything? … Is it bad? Good?” Trump allegedly said, and they discussed whether the attorney should bring the documents to his hotel room to keep them safe.
Trump allegedly made a “plucking motion” during the conversation, which the attorney memorialized as meaning: “Okay why don’t you take them with you to your hotel room and if there’s anything really bad in there, like, you know, pluck it out.”
