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The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that Ann an unnamed Trump official has provided critical evidence to investigators — telling them he moved boxes at the former president’s request when the government wanted the return of classified material, including some highly sensitive items, from Mar-a-Lago.
The witness account was corroborated by security camera footage, people familiar with the matter said, giving investigators a key piece of evidence about Trump’s behavior as they investigate potential crimes, including obstructing, destroying government documents or mishandling classified information.
Hours after The Post’s report was published, the New York Times reported that surveillance footage from Mar-a-Lago showed Nauta’s boxes moving.
An attorney for Nauta declined to comment to The Post Thursday, and Nauta did not return a call for comment.
The information provided by Nauta to FBI agents and the footage described to The Post, offer the most direct account yet of Trump’s actions and instructions that led to the FBI’s Aug. 8 search of his Florida property.
The search came after the Justice Department requested the return of all classified documents from Mar-a-Lago. Trump aides turned over 38 documents in June in response to a grand jury subpoena, but FBI agents discovered 103 more when they returned to Mar-a-Lago in August.
When FBI agents first interviewed Nauta, he denied being involved in moving boxes or sensitive documents, people familiar with the situation said in interviews before Nauta’s name became public. But after investigators gathered more evidence, they questioned him a second time and he told a radically different story — that Trump had instructed him to move the boxes, these people said.
Trump spokesman Taylor Budovitch declined to answer specific questions about those claims Wednesday, charging instead that the Biden administration “armed law enforcement and fabricated a document hoax in a desperate attempt to retain political power.”
Asked about Nauta’s account Thursday, Budovich questioned the legality of the court-approved search of Mar-a-Lago and accused the Biden administration of “colluding with the media through targeted leaks in a clear and illegal act of intimidation and tampering.”
People familiar with the Mar-a-Lago investigation said agents gathered evidence showing Trump told people to move boxes to his residence after his advisers received the subpoena. That account of events was corroborated by security camera footage showing people moving the boxes, the people said.
Separately, FBI agents questioned another key figure in the documents case last week: Christina Bobb, an attorney who signed a June letter saying a “thorough search” had been conducted for classified records at Mar-a-Lago and that all such documents have been returned to the government.
Bob, whose interview with the FBI was first reported by NBC News, told agents she signed the letter at the request of other attorneys and was not privy to the details of the raid, a person familiar with the matter said. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose private conversations, said Bob told the FBI she was skeptical about signing the letter and insisted on adding a disclaimer saying it was based on information provided to her by others.
Bob has told other Trump advisers that she did nothing wrong and acted on what she was told by Trump’s lawyer, Evan Corcoran, who handled the document search in response to the subpoena.
A person familiar with Bob’s account said she was called by Trump adviser Boris Epstein the day before the June 3 meeting with the Justice Department and asked to attend the session with Corcoran, whom she has never met. The person, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to provide Bob’s account, said Bob told agents that Corcoran had informed her that the storage room had been thoroughly searched — and indicated that it was the only part of the club to be searched.
Corcoran’s search for classified documents in response to the subpoena did not include the president’s private residence, a person familiar with the situation said.
A person familiar with the movement of the boxes at Mar-a-Lago said that after they were taken to the residence, Trump went through at least some of them and removed some of the documents. At least some of the boxes were later returned to storage, this person said, while some of the documents remained at the residence. The Post could not confirm the specific contents of the boxes Trump reportedly viewed.
Nauta is a native of Guam, according to public records. He enlisted in the Navy and eventually became a cook in the White House mess, a small Navy-run eatery in the basement of the West Wing. In 2013, he participated in a military culinary competition, part of a team representing the “Presidential Food Service.”
Shortly after Trump took office, Nauta left the mess to become one of Trump’s valets, spending part of his workday in a small hallway that connects the West Wing to a private dining room. From there, he had access to a small refrigerator filled with Diet Cokes, which he brought to the president in the Oval Office when Trump pressed a call button on his desk, said a former White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discussed activities at the White House.
Nauta often served as a kind of hobo, carrying whatever items the president might need during the day and tidying up the room, the former employee said. When Trump left the Oval Office that night, Nauta brought his coat. Their daily proximity meant the two developed a close professional relationship and Trump “trusted him completely”, this person added.
As part of his valet duties, Nauta also moved boxes containing Trump documents between the Oval Office and a private office, as well as a private dining room that Trump used as an informal office, the former official said. Trump regularly brought classified documents into that dining room, mixed with newspaper articles and other documents, according to multiple former White House officials who said Trump never strictly followed the rules and customs of handling sensitive government material.
The boxes Nauta allegedly moved at Trump’s direction to Mar-a-Lago also contained classified documents mixed with newspaper articles, according to people familiar with the matter.
The former official described Nauta as friendly and pleasant to visitors to the Oval Office. In September 2020, Nauta was promoted to Senior Chief Warrant Officer, a significant career advancement. When Trump left the White House, Nauta decided to join him at Mar-a-Lago.
Campaign finance records show Nauta was on the payroll of a Trump political action committee, Save America, in 2021. He was on the payroll as recently as August, making $5,227.81 in salary, or about 135 000 dollars a year, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
Lori Rosa in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Alice Crites and Rosalind S. Helderman in Washington, D.C. contributed to this report.
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