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‘They’re closing in’: Experts explain how DOJ may ‘force’ Trump aide to testify after he pleads the Fifth
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‘They’re closing in’: Experts explain how DOJ may ‘force’ Trump aide to testify after he pleads the Fifth
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Federal prosecutors investigating the trove of national security documents seized from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence are ramping up pressure on reluctant witnesses in the case, according to The New York Times.
Prosecutors have expressed skepticism about the initial account provided by Walt Nauta, a “little-known figure who worked at the White House as a military valet and cook” before getting hired at Mar-a-Lago, according to the report. Prosecutors are using the “specter of charges” for misleading investigators to pressure him to sit for questioning, the Times reported. Nauta, who was once tasked with bringing Trump Diet Cokes in the Oval Office, initially denied any role in moving boxes of sensitive documents at Mar-a-Lago but told investigators that Trump instructed him to move the boxes in a second interview, according to The Washington Post. Investigators also reviewed surveillance footage showing the boxes being moved.
Prosecutors are also trying to force longtime Trump aide Kash Patel to answer questions before a grand jury after he repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in his first appearance.
Patel was named by Trump as one of his representatives to the National Archives and Records Administration to handle his presidential records. Patel was particularly interested in records related to the Justice Department probe into Trump’s 2016 campaign ties to Russia, which he publicly said he planned to release.
Patel has also claimed he was in the room when Trump ostensibly declassified the documents before leaving office, a claim that has been refuted by multiple administration officials. Trump’s lawyers have provided no evidence in court that the documents were declassified and Patel invoked the Fifth rather than repeating the claim before the grand jury.
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