Legal analysts wonder if Trump is using valet Walt Nauta's lawyer problems to delay his own trial
Former FBI deputy director Andy McCabe and legal expert Dr. Allison Gill, Ph.D. discussed on episode 31 of the "Jack" podcast, that it had been two weeks since Donald Trump's valet, Walt Nauta, appeared in court and was told to get a Florida lawyer to vouch for his out-of-state lawyer that Trump is paying for.
McCabe argued that it's clear Trump wants to deal with his trial after the 2024 election. Judge Aileen Cannon already set a date for Aug. 2023, but some legal analysts think it might get started in Dec. 2023 or even as late as next spring.
All of those dates are early enough that McCabe thinks Trump can't make a reasonable argument that he'd be campaigning and that the trial should be pushed back until after the election.
"I think he'll make that motion eventually, but we haven't seen it yet," said McCabe.
Gill pointed out the Justice Department's pre-trial CIPA conference, which will sift through all of the classified information. The DOJ has put together a "very aggressive calendar," she explained so that they can plow through it all quickly. Judge Cannon said that Trump's reply is due July 6.
"But now, Walt Nauta still doesn't have Florida counsel to sponsor his lawyer Stanley Woodward," Gill continued.
"Yeah, it's ridiculous," McCabe chuckled. "You can hear me laughing over here. The guy has had two weeks. He had his first non-arraignment on June 13. And then he was supposed to come back two weeks later with an attorney in Florida. They have attorneys in Florida. I've been to Florida, and I've seen attorneys advertising all over the highway. All he needs to do is call one of those dudes, bring him in for the purpose of admitting his real attorney, which is just to support what's called the pro hac vice motion, which is when your real attorney is from a different state. You have to have an attorney from the state where the trial is happening go before the court and say, 'I nominate this guy. Real attorney to be admitted to this Bar, in this case, Florida, pro hac vice just for the purpose of this case.'"
Gill wondered why Trump's lawyer couldn't do it since he'd already done it for the former president. Trump is paying for Nauta's legal fees.
"It's because — his only defense here is to delay," said Gill. "And now they've set his third try at arraignment. I don't know why they don't just appoint a public defender and use that."
"Yeah, get it done," McCabe agreed.
The new date is now also July 6, when Nauta has to be arraigned, which is also the day he has to turn in all of his CIPA responses.
"It just seems like Trump is trying to use the fact that Nauta doesn't have counsel to delay the CIPA hearing," Gill asserted. "That's the only thing I can come up with. This is just — it seems ridiculous, and I don't understand why any of these Magistrate judges are not just appointing a public defender to sponsor Stanley Woodward pro hac vice, so they can get this ball rolling. But we know, and Trump knows, that the longer this goes on, the more reasonable it is for him to ask for a delay for after the election."
McCabe agreed, calling it a "passive-aggressive" way to stop the balls rolling forward where his name isn't on it.
Leave a Comment
Related Post