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Walt Nauta, aid to former President Donald Trump, follows Trump carrying clothing as they board his airplane at Palm Beach International Airport on March 13, 2023.

Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images

In every Trump scandal, there is a Trump lackey. Every one of them has served as a proxy for the biggest lackey of them all: the Republican Party.

The newest lackey is Walt Nauta, Donald Trumps body man, who was indicted last week, along with his boss, in the classified documents criminal case.

But he is just the latest in a long line of lackeys who have faced ruin, thanks to their close ties to Trump. Some are low-level employees like Nauta, while others are well-paid professionals, like attorney Michael Cohen or former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, both of whom ended up in prison as a result of their loyalty.

What they all have in common is that they have weak personalities and were easily seduced by Trump into doing his bidding, even when they knew that what he was asking them to do was immoral or illegal, or both.

Trump is a predator: He hunts for people he can convince to commit crimes and then do jail time on his behalf. Then he moves on, leaving the wreckage of their lives behind.

But each Trump lackey is a stand-in for the entire GOP, which has surrendered its soul to Donald Trump. The Republican Party today is dominated by insipid personalities easily swayed by Trumps demagoguery and eager to be told what to do by an autocrat.

Among the weakest are the other Republican candidates who are supposedly running for the partys 2024 presidential nomination. They are now acting like the enablers of an alcoholic; since Trumps indictment in the classified documents case was announced last Friday, almost all of them have been eagerly defending Trump, insisting that he is the victim of a partisan political witch hunt. With every pro-Trump statement, they are increasing the likelihood that he will defeat them for the nomination next year. They are wallowing in their own political masochism.

Of course, the insurrectionist mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, in order to try to keep Trump in power was just one giant group of Trump lackeys. More than a thousand of them have already faced arrest and prosecution, while Trump has not yet faced justice for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Few Trump lackeys have woken up in time to save themselves by flipping and testifying against him.

Will Walt Nauta wake up? Thats one of the big unanswered questions in the classified documents case. Special counsel Jack Smith clearly decided to charge Nauta in order to pressure him to cut a deal. If Nauta were to testify against Trump, who will make his first court appearance in the case on Tuesday, the governments case would probably become a slam dunk.

The 40-year-old Nauta is the classic Trump lackey: someone who allowed his entire identity to get wrapped up in his proximity to Donald Trump.

While in the Navy, Nauta served in the White House cafeteria and later as a military valet for Trump. He caught Trumps eye and left the Navy to work as his body man after he left office. Nauta became a constant presence by Trumps side; the indictment in the classified documents case summed up Nautas role in Trumps post-presidential world in one sentence: Nauta reported to Trump, worked closely with Trump, and traveled with Trump.

Nauta appears to have been involved from the very beginning in Trumps efforts to steal and hide classified documents on his way out of the White House. As Trump was leaving office in January 2021, Nauta was one of the people who helped box things up for him and move documents from the White House to his home at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. Nauta and other Trump staffers initially stored them on the stage in a Mar-a-Lago ballroom, and Nauta later helped move the boxes to the business center at the club.

Nauta knew from the start just how important Trump considered the documents he was keeping at Mar-a-Lago. When one employee wanted to move the boxes so that the business center could be freed up for other uses, another employee texted a warning: Whoa!! Ok so potus specifically asked Walt for those boxes to be in the business center because they are his papers, according to the indictment in the classified documents case. Proof that Nauta knew that Trump was hiding classified documents came on December 7, 2021, according to the indictment. Thats when Nauta found that several boxes being kept in a Mar-a-Lago storage room had fallen and that their contents had spilled out, including a document marked SECRET/REL TO USA FVEY. Those markings showed that the document was classified, and that it was only supposed to be distributed within the Five Eyes intelligence alliance of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Nauta took photos of the spilled documents and texted the photos to another Trump employee, thus providing evidence later obtained by prosecutors that he knew there were classified documents included in Trumps stored boxes.

Nauta only got into legal trouble in the classified documents case when he lied to the FBI about moving boxes filled with documents at Trumps request, when Trump was trying to hide the documents from the government. Trump was playing a stupid game of hide and seek, moving the documents from one room to another in Mar-a-Lago, and Nauta was the stooge who followed Trumps orders and kept moving the boxes for him. Between May 23 and June 2, 2022, Nauta moved 64 boxes from the Mar-a-Lago storage room and took them to Trumps residence in Mar-a-Lago so that Trump could go through them and find the documents he wanted to keep and hide, according to the indictment. By that time, Trump had already been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury demanding that he return all of the classified documents that he still held. Instead of complying with the subpoena, Trump ordered Nauta to start moving the boxes from the storage room up to the residence. Nauta began moving the boxes up to the residence on the same day that Trump met with his lawyers to discuss the subpoena.

The FBI gave Nauta an opportunity to answer easy questions to avoid legal jeopardy, but he didnt take it. The FBI asked Nauta if he was aware of any boxes being brought to [Trumps] home his suite at Mar-a-Lago. Nauta said no. He was then asked whether you have any information that could that would that could help us understand, like, where they were kept, how were they kept, were they secured, were they locked?

I wish, I wish I could tell you, Nauta lied. I dont know. I honestly just dont know.

With his lies to the FBI, Nautas status as a Trump lackey was complete.

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Trump Is a Predator Who Feeds on Lackeys - The Intercept

Donald Trump delivers remarks Saturday in Greensboro, N.C. Win McNamee/Getty Images hide caption

Donald Trump delivers remarks Saturday in Greensboro, N.C.

Former President Donald Trump is expected to appear in a Miami courthouse on Tuesday following last week's unsealing of a federal indictment accusing him of mishandling classified documents.

Trump is facing 37 federal charges, including obstruction and unlawful retention of defense information. Federal prosecutors say Trump illegally stored dozens of highly sensitive documents everywhere from bathrooms to ballrooms at his Florida resort, refusing to return them to the FBI and National Archives.

Trump's appearance at the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. U.S. Courthouse on Tuesday will mark his second appearance as a criminal defendant. He was also arraigned in a New York courthouse in April on charges of falsifying business records related to hush money payments.

Still, Tuesday's court appearance is likely to mark a new era in his winding political tenure as the charges levied against him grow in number and severity, all as he mounts a 2024 presidential reelection bid.

Here's what to expect as the political world watches.

Trump's hearing is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET, according to the former president and his lawyers. But before he can appear in court, he'll need to surrender for pretrial services, including booking and processing.

There's a good chance the public won't see any of this happening, says Jay Weaver, a long-time court reporter with the Miami Herald.

Weaver told NPR's Weekend Edition that the federal courthouse is connected to an underground garage. That tunnel could provide a secure spot for Trump to be electronically finger-printed.

As for handcuffs and a mugshot? Those steps probably won't be necessary in this controlled environment with such a high-profile figure, Weaver says. Skipping both of those steps would be consistent with what transpired ahead of his Manhattan arraignment in April.

One unknown is when, precisely, the pretrial processing might happen.

As of Monday afternoon, Trump's private plane had arrived in Miami.

Trump is scheduled to make remarks at a fundraising event in Bedminster again on Tuesday night. He took a similar tactic after also being arraigned in New York in April, taking to his home turf in Mar-a-Lago in Florida for a campaign speech in which he described himself as an innocent man and political martyr.

Nope. Unlike with the Manhattan court appearance, cameras are not allowed in the federal court.

Some reporters will be allowed to watch and share electronic updates though, so the public will get an account of what transpires.

Trump arrives at the courtroom at the Manhattan Criminal Court in New York in April. Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Trump arrives at the courtroom at the Manhattan Criminal Court in New York in April.

It's unclear which judge will oversee Tuesday's hearing, but we do know his case has been assigned to Judge Aileen M. Cannon, and it could be the first time the two come face-to-face.

Trump appointed Cannon to the bench in 2020. She surprised legal experts by ruling in Trump's favor last summer, appointing a special master to review documents seized by the FBI from Mar-a-Lago. The move temporarily stopped federal prosecutors from continuing their investigation into the documents.

If Trump is convicted and Cannon remains on the case, she would be responsible for determining the sentence, including any prison time.

It's unclear whether Trump will return for an arraignment at a later date or enter his plea on Tuesday.

His attorney Alina Habba, who is not part of the team representing him in the classified documents case, told Fox News on Sunday that Trump would not plan to seek a plea deal "especially when he's not done anything wrong," she added. "He would never admit guilt."

Trump's personal aide, Walt Nauta, has also been summoned to appear in court at the same time. Nauta is listed as a co-defendant in the case, with federal prosecutors saying he helped Trump move and hide boxes of classified documents.

In another similarity with the Manhattan court appearance, Trump is again asking his supporters to mobilize for protest.

"We need strength at this point. Everyone is afraid to do anything. They're afraid to talk. They have to go out and protest peacefully," Trump said in a radio interview hosted by his former advisor, Roger Stone, on Sunday afternoon.

"It is essential that they keep it peaceful, civil and legal," Stone emphasized.

Laura Loomer, a right-wing activist, tweeted about plans for a "peaceful rally" outside the courthouse, urging attendees to bring pro-Trump attire and "love" for the former president.

But not all of Trump's supporters were using words like "peaceful" in discussing plans of action.

Kari Lake, the Republican firebrand from Arizona, alluded to possible violence in a press conference on Saturday, saying, "We're at war, people," and "If you want to get to President Trump, you're going to have to go through me, and you're going to have to go through 75 million Americans just like me."

Lake is planning a rally in support of Trump in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Monday night.

The former president's Republican allies in Congress have also used sharp rhetoric while coming to Trump's defense, pledging to investigate the Department of Justice for a perceived weaponization of government.

Some also evoked war-like postures in social media posts about Tuesday's arraignment.

"Eye for an eye," wrote Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona. "We've now reached a war phase."

"Buckle up. 1/50K know your bridges. Rock steady calm," wrote Louisiana Rep. Clay Higgins in apparent reference to military terms. Two days later he backpedaled, telling all "patriots" not to "trip the wire" the mainstream media laid.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez repeatedly said during a press conference Monday that he believes in the Constitution and people's right to express their First Amendment right to protest, "but we also believe in law and order."

Police Chief Manny Morales also spoke during the conference to brief the city ahead of the expected protests.

"Since the moment the announcement was made, we have been planning and preparing to ensure that the city of Miami is safe and secure," Morales said. "I can assure all our residents, our stakeholders and the visitors that are in the city at this time that we are working very closely with our federal, state and local partners to make sure that we have a comprehensive approach."

Morales said officials are maintaining a unified command post to coordinate a police response and emergency services in the city.

Suarez said he is confident in the police department's ability to maintain order and peace ahead of Trump's court appearance given Miami's past experience in handling protests after George Floyd's death that lasted days in the city.

Morales said any plans for street closures or detours will be made tomorrow depending on the size of crowds.

Special counsel Jack Smith pledged on Friday that he and his team would work to ensure the former president received a speedy trial but it's unclear that the president's legal team would choose speed themselves.

Federal law stipulates that a "speedy trial" is one that starts no later than 70 days after an arraignment. But that doesn't account for defense motions, and in this case, there could be plenty, according to Weaver.

"There's going to be motions to dismiss it on the basis of selective prosecution," he told NPR on Saturday. "You prosecuted me, but you didn't prosecute Hillary Clinton or President Joe Biden for possessing classified documents, as well."

Weaver is also expecting delays over the choice of venue (a possible move to West Palm Beach, which could see a jury pool more favorable to Trump) and delays related to the Classified Protection Act (the defense attorney might need a security clearance just to review the records included as evidence).

That means a trial could land right in the thick of Trump's 2024 presidential campaign as the former president told Politico this weekend, he'd stump from prison if necessary.

"I'll never leave," Trump reportedly said. "Look, if I would have left, I would have left prior to the original race in 2016. That was a rough one."

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What to know about Donald Trump's Miami court appearance on Tuesday - NPR

Donald J. Trump will make his first appearance in federal criminal court on Tuesday. But the former president has been pleading his case for days in a far friendlier venue the court of Republican public opinion, where he continues to dominate the 2024 field.

For Mr. Trump and his team, there has been a sense of familiarity, even normalcy, in the chaos of facing a 37-count indictment in the classified documents case. After two House impeachments, multiple criminal investigations, the jailing of his businesss former accountant, his former fixer and his former campaign manager, and now two criminal indictments, Mr. Trump knows the drill, and so do his supporters.

The playbook is well-worn: Play the victim. Blame the Deep State. Claim selective prosecution. Punish Republicans who stray for disloyalty. Dominate the news. Ply small donors for cash.

His allies see the indictment as a chance to end the primary race before it has even begun in the minds of Republican voters by framing 2024 as an active battle with President Biden. Until now, the main pro-Trump super PAC, MAGA Inc., has focused heavily on Mr. Trumps chief Republican rival, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, in its $20 million of ad spending. But that messaging has shifted after the indictment, with a new commercial already being shown that pits Mr. Trump directly against Mr. Biden.

The intended effect, said a person familiar with the strategy, is to present Mr. Trump as the partys leader and the presumptive nominee who has already entered a head-to-head battle with Mr. Biden and his Justice Department, making Mr. Trumps Republican opponents look small by comparison.

Mr. Trump, who flew to Florida on Monday ahead of his Tuesday appearance, is determined to serve as narrator of his own high-stakes legal drama. He posted on Truth Social to reveal he had been indicted minutes after his lawyer had called to alert him last week.

The only good thing about it is its driven my poll numbers way up, Mr. Trump told the Georgia Republican Party in a combative speech on Saturday.

So far, the indictment fallout appears to be moving along two parallel tracks in different directions, one political, the other legal.

Politically, Mr. Trump has continued to consolidate Republican support. In a CBS News poll on Sunday, only 7 percent of likely Republican primary voters initially said the indictment would change their view of Mr. Trump for the worse and twice as many said it would change their view for the better. A full 80 percent of likely Republican voters said Mr. Trump should be able to serve even if convicted.

Legally, the specificity and initial evidence presented in the charging document that was unsealed on Friday showed the gravity of the case.

That evidence includes a recording of Mr. Trump claiming to have a classified document in front of him and acknowledging he no longer had the power to declassify it, photographs of documents strewn across a storage room floor which Mr. Trump was particularly rankled by surveillance footage, reams of subpoenaed texts from his own aides and notes from his own lawyer. If even half of it is true, then hes toast, Bill Barr, who served as attorney general under Mr. Trump, said on Fox News. Its very, very damning.

As he headed to Miami, Mr. Trump was working to reassemble a legal team shaken by two major resignations on Friday as the special counsel who brought the charges, Jack Smith, said he would push for a speedy trial.

For Mr. Trump, who has long blurred public-relations woes and legal peril, his 2024 campaign began in part as a shield against prosecution, and victory at the ballot box would amount to the ultimate acquittal. Still, few political strategists in either party see running while under indictment as a way to appeal to the independent voters who are crucial to actually winning the White House.

But Mr. Trump has rarely looked past the task immediately in front of him, and for now that is the primary. The CBS poll showed him dominating his closest rival, Mr. DeSantis, 61 percent to 23 percent.

On Sunday night, the chief executive of the MAGA Inc. super PAC, Taylor Budowich, sent a memo of talking points to surrogates that tellingly does not mention Mr. DeSantis at all, only Mr. Biden.

Another person familiar with the super PACs strategy said that the fundamentals of the political race had not changed even as the indictment has brought Mr. Trump the gravest legal threat hes ever faced. And the PAC would eventually continue attacking Mr. DeSantis, while also elevating other Republican candidates to shear off some of Mr. DeSantiss support.

The uncomfortable initial posture of Mr. Trumps rivals was captured in a video released by Mr. DeSantiss super PAC attacking the Biden DOJ for indicting the former president. Mr. Trumps team was delighted to see it, even if the ad cast Mr. DeSantis as the man to clean house inside the federal government. Forcing rivals to rally around Mr. Trump, as they see it, is a reaffirmation of the former presidents place at the head of the G.O.P.

Yet on Monday, there was a slight shift in tone from solely denouncing the Justice Department. Two things can be true, Nikki Haley, the former United Nations ambassador, said on Fox News, adding if the indictment was accurate President Trump was incredibly reckless with our national security. Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina called it a serious case with serious allegations during a campaign stop in his home state, according to The Post and Courier.

The arc of how Mr. Trump has bent the Republican Party and its voters to his interests is not new. He famously joked that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose support in his 2016 campaign.

He survived a succession of scandals as president including the long-running investigation by a previous special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, that sent some Trump advisers to prison that few others could. One reason, his advisers and allies say, is that Republican voters have become inured to the various accusations he has faced, flattening them all into a single example of prosecutorial and Democratic overreach, regardless of the specifics.

Most people on my side of the aisle believe when it comes to Donald Trump, there are no rules, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of Mr. Trumps most ardent Republican defenders, said on ABC News This Week on Sunday. And you can do the exact same thing or something similar as a Democrat and nothing happens.

The New York Post captured the sentiment succinctly with a tabloid banner on Monday that read, What About the Bidens?

One Trump adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss strategy, noted that most politicians would assume a defensive crouch when facing a federal indictment. But not Mr. Trump, who delivered two speeches on Saturday, has posted dozens of times on his social media site and is determined to use the national spotlight to drive a proactive message of his own. It is Trump 24/7, wall-to-wall why not use that to your advantage? the adviser said, referring to the blanket media coverage Mr. Trump has been receiving after his indictment.

On Monday evening, Mr. Trump did three straight radio interviews, including one with Americano Media, where the host, Carines Moncada, told Mr. Trump that the charges against him had echoes of persecution of conservative leaders in Latin America. I think maybe one of the reasons they like me, so many people have been so hurt in Colombia, in other countries in Latin America, South America, Mr. Trump replied.

The charges, however, could pose a long-term political challenge. An ABC/Ipsos poll from the weekend found that more independents thought Mr. Trump should be charged than thought he should not. And 61 percent of Americans found the charges either very or somewhat serious.

In the CBS poll, 69 percent of independent voters said they would consider Mr. Trumps possession of documents about nuclear systems or military plans a national security risk (46 percent of Republicans said the same, suggesting a potential fracture in the party over that point).

On Tuesday, Mr. Trump will fly to New Jersey after his hearing, commandeering the cameras again to deliver prime-time remarks that his team hopes will be televised.

Mr. Trumps advisers took note that some cable and broadcast networks gave live coverage on Monday to the departure of his motorcade as it headed for the airport. On Twitter, the Trump adviser Jason Miller noted that even Fox News, which has generally shied away from extensive live Trump coverage, broadcast footage of the motorcade. Mr. Miller had mocked Fox News over the weekend for not carrying Mr. Trumps appearances live.

The Trump operation said it had raised $4 million in the first 24 hours after his previous indictment by the Manhattan district attorney in March. But the campaign has yet to disclose the sum this time.

In a major fund-raiser that was in the works before the indictment, Mr. Trump is gathering top donors on Tuesday evening at Bedminster, his private club. Those who raise at least $100,000 are invited to attend a candlelight dinner after his address to the media.

The indictment news has blotted out other developments on the campaign trail. The announcement over the weekend by Mr. DeSantis of his first endorsement from a fellow governor, Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, was barely a blip. And when Mr. Trump turns himself in at a Miami courthouse on Tuesday, it will keep the attention on the former president.

Roughly 15 different groups are trying to galvanize Trump supporters to come to the Miami courthouse for his hearing, according to one person briefed on the plans.

The juxtaposition in Mr. Trumps own language about the stakes, legally and politically, can be jarring.

This is the final battle, Mr. Trump said on Saturday.

But aware of the violence that broke out on Jan. 6, 2021, when Mr. Trump urged supporters to march on the Capitol, he was more cautious on Sunday when speaking to Roger J. Stone Jr., his longest-serving adviser, in an interview for Mr. Stones radio show.

Mr. Trump said they should join that final battle while protesting peacefully.

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How Trump Plans to Beat His Indictment, Politically - The New York Times

A family affair?

Former President Donald Trump was noticeably absent from a big family photo taken at his granddaughters bat mitzvah in Miami over the weekend days after his history-making indictment in the classified documents case.

The family snap sans the 76-year-old was among a trove of glamorous portrait shots shared by Ivanka Trump on Instagram late Monday to mark her 13-year-old daughter Arabella Kushnersbat mitzvah celebrations.

All four adult Trump siblings Ivanka, Don Jr., Eric and Tiffany posed alongside their significant others for the photo.

Even Don Jr.s ex-wife made the cut. A smiling Vanessa Trump, who filed for divorce in 2018, was pictured standing next to her ex-husbands new fiance, Kimberly Guilfoyle.

While the elder Trump was nowhere to be seen in the family snap, Ivanka did share several photos to her Instagram Story of the ex-prez and wife Melania posing with Arabella several weeks earlier at a birthday party they threw for the teen.

Thank you Dad and Melania for throwing Arabella the sweetest birthday dinner at Mar-a-Lago a few weeks ago in advance of her Bat Mitzvah! It was very special. We love you both so much! Ivanka wrote alongside one of the pics.

The former first daughter did not address the indictment that was handed down against Trump last Thursday and unsealed a day later, which accuses him of keeping top secret government documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate and trying to hide them from federal authorities when they demanded them back.

Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, have steered clear of involvement in Donald Trumps third consecutive White House run, and a source told Page Six last week that the Miami-based former first daughter will be staying far away from Daddy.

Trump is believed to have missed out on his granddaughters celebrations after spending the weekend holed up at his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey. He jetted down to Miami on Monday afternoon ahead of his historic arraignment in federal court.

The 45th president, whohas professed his innocence and vowed to continue his 2024 White House campaign, is facing 37 felony counts including 31 related to the willful retention of national defense information.

Trump is accused of taking some 11,000 documents some containing sensitive national security secrets when he left the White House in January 2021 and hoarding them haphazardly at hisPalm Beach estate.

He then allegedly sought to obstruct government efforts to recover the documents, including by directing personal aide Walt Nauta who was also charged in the indictment to move boxes to conceal them.

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Donald Trump absent from Ivanka's family photo after indictment - New York Post

No one in the United States has written with more eloquence and insight about Donald Trump than his niece Mary, a clinical psychologist whose 2020 book Too Much and Never Enough sold one million copies on its first day on the shelves. New Republic editor Michael Tomasky spoke with her Monday afternoon, the day before her uncle was scheduled to present himself to south Florida federal authorities for arraignment on the 37 counts filed against him last week by special prosecutor Jack Smith.

On the charges themselves: I dont think theres any case that can be made in defense of his actions. On his state of mind: Hes feeling terrible fear. Hes lashing out, Mary Trump said, because lashing out has always worked before. Somehow, he has always slid out of situations just by outlasting his adversarieswith more money, more lawyers, more time, more patience. For Donald, it has almost always been about running out the clock, she said.

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He's Feeling Terrible Fear: Mary Trump on Donald Trump's ... - The New Republic