More details from the warrant to search former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate last August were revealed Wednesday in compliance with a judge’s order.
Per an Axios report, new information from this “slightly less redacted” version of the warrant than has been made public before includes “evidence of surveillance footage” that appears to show Trump aide Walt Nauta moving boxes of classified documents.
Nauta was “observed exiting the ANTEROOM doorway with approximately fifty Bankers boxes,” said the unsealed document. Trump has been federally indicted and charged with 37 felony counts and has pleaded not guilty. Nauta has also been charged, and he pleaded not guilty Thursday, according to The New York Times.
Trump announced last year that his Palm Beach, Fla., estate had been raided by the government. According to the warrant affidavit, an investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents began as a result of a referral the United States National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) sent to the DOJ last February.
Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart of Florida ordered the new details to be unsealed due to media requests. However, some details are not expected to be revealed to the public, at least while the case continues.
“A spokesperson for Trump said when asked for comment on the new release that the former president offered to cooperate with the documents’ return, but the Department of Justice rejected this and proceeded with the raid,” said Axios. Representatives for the DOJ did not immediately respond to the outlet’s request for comment.
Trump was also indicted in Manhattan on another matter this year. Experts believe the documents case has the potential to actually put the former Commander-in-Chief behind bars.
“It would be very difficult for a judge not to impose some level of incarceration in order for that judge to be consistent in applying the federal criminal code,” former U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Thomas B. Heffelfinger told WCCO. “Other white-collar criminals are going to jail, and why not this one?”
According to an Ipsos/POLITICO poll released Thursday, 57% of Americans believe that Trump should head to trial before the 2024 presidential election. He’s currently the GOP frontrunner for nomination.
“Opinions on this vary by party: while the majority (86%) of Democrats think Trump should be put on trial before the 2024 presidential election, just under half of Republicans (46%) think the same,” said the poll summary.
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