The federal case against former President Donald Trump (R) will make or break history as the president faces over 30 felony charges. Now, the court has released more evidence in the search warrant against the former president and his Florida home.
Last year President Trump was the subject of even more controversy than usual when his mansion in Florida was raided by the FBI. Soon after, the public was made aware that Trump held onto classified documents after his presidency. Until his recent surrender to local authorities, Trump held that he lawfully retained the documents.
Trump's argument has also shifted into claiming current President Biden (D) did the same thing after he left the office of Vice President in 2017. Now, the unclear image of what the former president held onto and why he is being charged is slowly surfacing as the court has disclosed certain elements of the original search warrant that led to the classified document fiasco in the first place.
Not only does the disclosed portion of the affidavit shows that Trump did not initially argue to prosecutors that he declassified the contested documents. But, new information has shown that the former president did not make any defense when his team partially surrendered classified documents. The affidavit also recounts how an unidentified person was seen on multiple days carrying either cardboard or bankers’ boxes in and out of the anteroom at the house.
The recently disclosed information also aids in explaining why Trump's valet, Walt Nauta, will also be prosecuted in the case of the missing documents. According to the affidavit, Nauta assisted in relocating documents around Trump's property, which led to the probable cause needed to search the Mar-a-Lago estate in August of 2022.
The FBI questioned him about the locations of the boxes. The affidavit said that the footage shows him moving “approximately 64 boxes from the storage room area” and “only return[ing] 25-30 boxes” to that room. Nauta is being further accused of making false statements to the FBI regarding the status of the documents.
Nauta's actions are currently suspected to be the evidence the state is using to prove that Trump knowingly, and illicitly, retained classified documents against the wishes of the US government. Trump's case is set for next month, just when the Republican primary season starts for the GOP frontrunner.
