(AFP) – The Justice Department ended its prosecution on Wednesday of two former co-defendants of President Donald Trump who were accused of mishandling classified documents. Special Counsel Jack Smith dropped the case against Trump after he won November’s election, but charges were still pending against Walt Nauta, Trump’s valet, and Carlos De Oliveira, a property manager at the president’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, threw out the case in July, but Smith had appealed the dismissal of the charges against Nauta and De Oliveira to the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. The Justice Department, which is now led by Trump appointees, said in a filing with the 11th Circuit Court that it was abandoning its appeal. No reason was given for the move, which the appeals court is likely to accept, bringing the case to an end.
Nauta, Trump’s long-time valet, and De Oliveira had pleaded not guilty to charges of making false statements and obstructing justice. Trump was accused by the special counsel of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden and stashing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home after leaving the White House at the end of his first term.
Trump allegedly kept the top secret documents — which included records from the Pentagon and CIA — unsecured at Mar-a-Lago and thwarted efforts to retrieve them. Smith dropped both cases against Trump after the election, citing a Justice Department policy of not indicting or prosecuting a sitting president.
© 2024 AFP
