Washington — The top federal prosecutor in South Florida is asking a federal appeals court to toss out the classified documents case against President Trump’s former co-defendants, aide Walt Nauta and former Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos de Oliveira.
Acting U.S. Attorney Hayden O’Byrne made the request to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on Wednesday, which lawyers for Nauta and de Oliveira do not oppose. It’s likely the Atlanta-based appeals court will grant the request, bringing the case initially brought by former special counsel Jack Smith to a close.
Nauta and de Oliveira were charged alongside Mr. Trump in 2023 with allegedly helping obstruct the Justice Department probe into the president’s handling of sensitive government documents after the end of his first term in January 2021.
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.
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.
Should the judges agree to close the case, a major impediment to the public release of Smith’s report summarizing the classified documents investigation would be eliminated. Former Attorney General Merrick Garland agreed to keep the volume of Smith’s report that dealt with the case under seal as the appeal progressed. Now, with the case on the verge of dismissal and Mr. Trump’s administration in power, it remains unclear whether the volume of the report will be released to the public.
The first volume of Smith’s report, which involved his investigation and prosecution of Mr. Trump stemming from alleged efforts to subvert the transfer of presidential power after the 2020 election, was made public just before the president returned to office.
Mr. Trump has returned to office with a pledge to end the so-called “weaponization” of the Justice Department. He has since fired roughly a dozen department employees who worked with Smith on the prosecutions of the president.
Nauta’s lawyer, Stanley Woodward, is now serving as a White House lawyer. CBS News previously reported that de Oliveira’s attorney, John Irving, is under possible consideration for a top job within the Justice Department although a final decision has yet to be made.
Irving said in a statement that “Carlos should never have been charged in the first place, and I have zero doubt that he would have been acquitted at trial. It’s nice to see the Justice Department using better judgment these days.”
