Special Counsel Dismisses Case Against Co-defendants in Trump Documents Investigation
Jack Smith announced that he will remove five attorneys from the case concerning Trump associates Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira.
The special counsel, who has overseen two federal cases against President-elect Donald Trump, revealed on Monday in court documents that he is transferring the classified documents case involving two co-defendants to a local U.S. attorney’s office.
According to the filing, “The special counsel has now referred this case to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, which has separately entered an appearance.”
Nauta, who serves as Trump’s valet, and de Oliveira, manager of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, have been accused by prosecutors of concealing boxes of records from federal investigators. They are facing charges for obstruction of justice and making false statements to investigators, along with several counts related to documents concealment. Both defendants have pleaded not guilty.
Following Trump’s electoral victory in November, Smith stated he would not challenge a federal judge’s ruling from July that dismissed the classified documents case against Trump. Concurrently, Smith’s office also terminated its case against Trump in Washington, which had claimed he unlawfully attempted to overturn the 2020 election results.
Smith explained that he decided to abandon his appeal and case against Trump due to a longstanding Department of Justice guideline that prohibits prosecuting a sitting president.
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In the documents case, Trump has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges as prosecutors assert that he mishandled classified materials following his departure from the White House in 2021 and obstructed federal inquiries. The FBI conducted a raid at Mar-a-Lago in August 2022, seizing numerous boxes of documents.
Trump has characterized both federal cases against him as politically motivated efforts aimed at undermining his re-election prospects. Throughout various media appearances during the campaign period, Trump claimed he would terminate the Smith cases and dismiss Smith himself.
The president-elect added, “These cases, like all the other cases I have been forced to endure, are baseless and unlawful, and should never have been initiated.”
“That prohibition is absolute and does not depend on the severity of the charges, the robustness of the Government’s evidence, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Government fully supports,” his document stated. “Given the Department’s interpretation of the Constitution, the Government requests dismissal without prejudice.”
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, based in Washington, promptly approved Smith’s request to dismiss the case. In the classified documents appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit similarly agreed to drop Trump from the case.
