(Washington) — The federal judge presiding over the classified documents case against Donald Trump declined Saturday to dismiss charges against one of the former president's other defendants.
Lawyers for Walt Nauta, Donald Trump's personal butler, have asked U.S. District Judge Ellen Cannon to dismiss the indictment against their client.
They said, among other things, that Walt Nauta was charged because of insufficient cooperation with prosecutors' investigations and a personal animus they said prosecutors harbored against one of Walt's lawyers.
Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team denied all the allegations. Judge Cannon, in her four-page order issued Saturday, said Mr. Nauta had failed to meet the high standards required to dismiss the case.
Mr. Nota and Mar-a-Lago estate manager Carlos de Oliveira have been accused of conspiring with Donald Trump to withhold evidence from investigators as they sought to recover classified documents brought to his Palm Beach, Florida, home after his presidency.
The three men pleaded not guilty.
No trial date has been set in this case.
Donald Trump also sought to dismiss the case.
Judge Cannon stressed that “the order should not be construed as a comment on the merits of Donald Trump’s motion to dismiss the indictment on the grounds of selective and retaliatory prosecution or any other ongoing judicial process.
