A judge on Tuesday pushed back the planned arraignment of Waltine “Walt” Nauta, a personal aide to former President Donald Trump who is facing charges related to Trump’s handling of classified documents.
Nauta was expected to plead not guilty Tuesday to charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document or record, concealing a document in a federal investigation, scheming to conceal and making false statements. However, Tuesday’s hearing was postponed until July 6 after his attorney showed up at the federal courthouse in Miami without him, CNN reported.
Attorney Stanley Woodward told the judge that Nauta had yet to find an attorney based in Florida and that his scheduled flight from New Jersey had been canceled, according to The Associated Press. More than 1,700 flights were delayed across the U.S. on Tuesday morning with nearly 900 more canceled, according to flight tracking site FlightAware.
“Mr. Nauta takes very seriously the charges that he is facing,” Woodward said Tuesday, according to the AP.
Nauta made his initial court appearance earlier this month alongside Trump, who pleaded not guilty to 37 charges related to documents found at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. At the time, Nauta was granted an extension on his arraignment to allow him time to find a local attorney. He did not enter a plea.
In an indictment made public earlier this month, authorities said Nauta conspired with Trump to allow the former president to keep classified documents that he had taken with him when he left the White House. Nauta moved boxes of documents and other items for the former president and then lied to the FBI, authorities alleged.
