Washington — A federal appeals court formally granted the Justice Department’s request to drop the case against two of President Trump’s co-defendants in the prosecution over his handling of classified documents, bringing an end to the last remaining case stemming from former special counsel Jack Smith’s investigations.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, based in Atlanta, dismissed the case against Trump aide Walt Nauta and former Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos de Oliveira in a one-line order on Tuesday. Hayden O’Byrne, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, asked the court to dismiss the government’s appeal of an earlier order in late January.
“This appeal is dismissed,” the court said.
Nauta and de Oliveira were charged alongside Mr. Trump in 2023 with helping to obstruct the Justice Department probe into the president’s handling of sensitive government documents after the end of his first term in January 2021.
Wilfredo Lee / AP
The prosecution was brought by Smith, who resigned as special counsel before Mr. Trump returned to the White House. The special counsel claimed the president unlawfully held onto sensitive government after returning to his South Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, after leaving the White House four years ago, and accused Nauta and de Oliveira of working with Mr. Trump to conceal information from the Justice Department.
The three co-defendants pleaded not guilty. The charges were then dismissed by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon last July on the grounds that Smith was unlawfully appointed. The special counsel appealed the decision to the 11th Circuit.
Following Mr. Trump’s election in November, Smith successfully sought to remove him from the case because of a longstanding Justice Department policy that forbids the prosecution of a sitting president. But the appeal was continuing as to Nauta and de Oliveira. Smith handed the case over to the U.S. Attorney’s Office before he resigned.
The former special counsel accused the two allies of Mr. Trump of attempting to interfere with the federal probe. Their attorneys fought the charges and resisted the Justice Department’s previous efforts to keep the cases moving forward on appeal after Mr. Trump’s election win.
