Washington – An employee at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort seen on security camera footage moving boxes that have become a key part of the FBI’s ongoing investigation into Trump’s handling of presidential records is a former White House culinary worker and Navy veteran, a source confirms to CBS News.
Walt Nauta – who served as a White House culinary employee from 2012-2021, according to his service record – told investigators that the former president directed him to move the boxes to a different location as the federal investigation was underway, an individual familiar with the investigation says.
Nauta, a native of Guam, is now a witness in the Justice Department’s probe – which escalated after the execution of a search warrant on Trump’s Florida residence in August – and has appeared before a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., CBS News has learned. Investigators are interested in Nauta’s firsthand knowledge of what he told investigators was Trump’s directive to move the containers of records, the source said.
According to his service record, Nauta was a culinary specialist who enlisted in the Navy in July 2001, worked on aircraft carriers and naval bases and earned a number of medals and honors over the course of his career. His service record indicates his last post was in Washington, D.C., before leaving the military in September 2021.
Steve Helber / AP
The news of a cooperating witness in the investigation of the documents with knowledge of the moving boxes was first reported by The Washington Post and Nauta’s name was first reported by the New York Times.
The video showing the boxes being handled is now in the hands of investigators and it contributed to the FBI’s decision to execute the court-authorized search warrant at Mar-a-Lago in August, a source with knowledge of the investigation says.
Stanley Woodward, Nauta’s attorney, declined to comment for this report.
Trump’s fight over White House records began when National Archives general counsel Gary Stern wrote to a group of Trump attorneys in May 2021 informing them that “roughly two dozen boxes of original Presidential records” from Trump’s time in office that were once kept in the White House residence had yet to be returned to the Archives.”
A year later, in May 2022, a grand jury in Washington, D.C. sent a subpoena to Trump’s resort “seeking documents bearing classification markings” at Trump’s Florida resort, according to unsealed court documents. Trump’s legal team is said to have accepted the service of the subpoena on May 11, and a subpoena for security camera footage from inside Mar-a-Lago was served in June.
That footage showed the boxes, possibly containing sensitive material, being moved from one location at Trump’s resort to a different location within Mar-a-Lago and, according to the source, Nauta has alleged to investigators that Trump had directed the move.
Trump has consistently denied wrongdoing by claiming in part that he declassified the documents in question, and by labeling the investigation as politically motivated.
CBS News has reached out to Trump’s spokesperson for comment. Last week, when the news broke about an employee moving the boxes, Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich accused the Biden administration of having “weaponized law enforcement and fabricated a Document Hoax in a desperate attempt to retain political power. “
“Every other President has been given time and deference regarding the administration of documents, as the President has the ultimate authority to categorize records, and what materials should be classified,” Budowich said. “The continued effort to leak misleading and false information to partisan allies in the Fake News is nothing more than dangerous political interference and unequal justice. Simply put, it’s un-American.”
The August execution of the search warrant at Trump’s residence yielded 33 boxes of material, according to court documents, from press clippings to clothes, and including 103 documents with classified markings – labeled either “CONFIDENTIAL,” “SECRET,” or “TOP SECRET.” The boxes also contained nearly 50 empty folders with classified banners on them. Prosecutors say they are in the midst of a “national security” investigation into the matter and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is conducting a damage assessment as a result of the allegedly improperly stored documents.
The Justice Department declined to comment.
Trump sued the Justice Department in the weeks after the search, alleging attorney-client and executive privileges were at stake and requesting the appointment of an independent third party to review the materials. A federal judge in Florida granted Trump’s request, paused the investigation and appointed Judge Raymond Dearie as special master, or independent arbiter, a ruling that prosecutors have appealed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.
Eleanor Watson contributed to this report.
