Jack Smith smacks down Trump body man's claim about leaking sealed information

In a new filing reported by The Messenger's Adam Klasfeld, special counsel Jack Smith demolished a claim by former President Donald Trump's valet and body man Walt Nauta that the prosecution in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case illegally released sealed grand jury information.

Specifically, Smith revealed that the material in question was actually authorized for release by a judge in the first place.

"[P]ermission for such a public disclosure was expressly granted under a prior Government motion and the Court's corresponding order," said the filing, noting that it included information on a conflicts hearing, the "facts and dates of the hearing," and resulting appointment of a public defender. Furthermore, "In the motion, the Government explained its intended use of the materials related to the conflicts hearing."

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This contrasts with Nauta, who had claimed through his Trump PAC-appointed attorney Stan Woodward that he began receiving "threatening" messages after a supposedly unauthorized disclosure of sealed information by federal prosecutors, who are litigating Trump's hoarding of highly classified national defense information at his country club in South Florida.

"In what can only be described as a brazen and overt effort to influence the Court and/or the court of public opinion, the Special Counsel selectively quotes defense counsel’s submission in deliberate contravention of a sealing order issued by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia," wrote Woodward in a filing at the time. Woodward also represented Yuscil Taveras, an IT official for Mar-a-Lago, before he switched to a federal public defender

All of this fighting comes as the presiding judge in the case, Aileen Cannon, has demanded the prosecution explain why information involving a separate grand jury in D.C. was used in the case. Smith shortly explained to Cannon, a Trump appointee who has tried only four cases before and has a history of controversy surrounding her interference in the case on Trump's behalf, that his use of another grand jury's material is standard practice, and also outlined Woodward's potential conflicts of interest in representing Trump associates in the case.