Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team is focusing on two photographs found on the phone of Walt Nauta, a co-defendant in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case involving former President Donald Trump, reports Newsweek. These images, reportedly showing classified documents, are central to the prosecution’s strategy.
The revelation follows a CNN report from two weeks prior, which detailed an offer allegedly made to Nauta. He was told that if charged with lying to the FBI, Trump would pardon him upon winning a second term in 2024. This information surfaced from interview notes with a witness involved in the investigation. Despite these claims, Nauta has pleaded not guilty to charges of aiding Trump in obstructing the Justice Department’s probe into the mishandling of classified documents.
According to Newsweek, the prosecution aims to persuade Judge Aileen Cannon that Nauta had ample time to secure an expert witness to challenge the government’s claims about the classified images found on his device. The government had informed Nauta’s legal team about the existence of these photos months ago, allowing sufficient time for preparation.
The prosecution’s latest court filing emphasizes that Nauta has had access to all necessary resources to identify an expert witness for several months. “Since one of the phones contained two unique images with classification markings, the Government provided those images separately to defense counsel via classified discovery in October 2023, along with the related forensic report containing metadata about the images,” the filing detailed.
Smith’s team is concerned that Nauta’s denial of knowledge regarding the images is a tactic to delay the trial, potentially pushing it past the upcoming election, thus benefiting Trump.