Federal prosecutors moved to voluntarily dismiss the cases against two of President Trump’s former co-defendants in the Mar-a-Lago document case on Wednesday.
Without an explanation, the Justice Department asked an appeals court to end its challenge against a prior decision to throw out its prosecution of Walt Nauta, a valet at Mar-a-Lago, and Carlos De Oliveira, a Mar-a-Lago property manager.
Last July, US District Judge Aileen Cannon rejected the Mar-a-Lago document case, prompting former special counsel Jack Smith’s team to file an appeal and try to revive it.
Cannon, who was appointed to the bench by Trump, ruled that Smith had been illegally appointed special prosecutor, a conclusion the DOJ adamantly rejected.
Following Trump’s election victory, Smith’s team pulled back its attempt to reinstate the charges against the president for the Mar-a-Lago case.
De Oliveira and Nauta were accused of conspiring with Trump’s alleged efforts to undermine a federal investigation into the classified documents that had been holed up in Mar-a-Lago.
Smith’s team charged the two men with making false statements and obstructing justice.
Prosecutors alleged that Trump had a call with his attorney on June 24, 2022, after the federal grand jury overseeing the case subpoenaed for surveillance footage showing some of the boxes that contained key documents.
Later, Nauta and De Oliveira “walked with a flashlight through the tunnel where the Storage Room was located, and observed and pointed out surveillance cameras,” prosecutors alleged.
The feds accused the two men of conspiring to scrub the footage, but there is no evidence that such an effort succeeded.
Both De Oliveira’s and Nauta’s attorneys agreed with the prosecutor’s bid to throw out the case, according to court filings Wednesday.
Should the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit agree, it will end the last vestige of the federal cases against Trump.
Former US Attorney General Merrick Garland opted against publicly releasing Smith’s final report on the classified document case due to concerns about the ongoing prosecution against De Oliveira and Nauta.
Democrats have clamored for that report, which Cannon prevented the DOJ from sharing with Congress.
The DOJ’s move to dismiss its efforts to revive charges against De Oliveira and Nauta could hasten the release of Smith’s report.
Trump had been charged by Smith’s team with 40 counts in the Mar-a-Lago document case and four counts in the 2020 election subversion case, which has since been closed.
The 47th president was formally convicted of 34 counts in the Manhattan hush money case earlier this month after a jury found him guilty last May. There was no punishment given in that conviction.
Lastly, Trump is facing a 10-count indictment over alleged 2020 election tampering in Georgia. That case has been bogged down in appeals and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, whose team pursued the indictment and has been disqualified from it.
The Post contacted the DOJ for comment.
