FORT PIERCE, Fla. — During a hearing Friday afternoon in a Fort Pierce federal courtroom, one of former President Donald Trump's co-defendants in his classified documents case chose to keep his current attorney despite an alleged conflict of interest.
Walt Nauta, Trump's valet, chose to keep his attorney.
Nauta is one of two co-defendants, along with Mar-a-Lago maintenance worker Carlos De Oliveira, accused of helping Trump move boxes of classified documents around Mar-a-Lago and then attempting to delete security footage from the property.
Prosecutors said Nauta's attorney, Stanley Woodward, has a conflict of interest because he currently represents and previously represented witnesses in the case who may be called to testify against Nauta during the trial.
One of those witnesses is Mar-a-Lago's information technology director, who recently found new representation, flipped and is now working with the prosecution.
During Friday's hearing, Woodward vowed that another attorney on his team would be handling the cross-examination of those witnesses at trial.
Nauta ultimately chose to keep Woodward as his attorney and Judge Aileen Cannon accepted his decision.
The next hearing in the case is set for Nov. 1.
During that hearing, Cannon will hear arguments about scheduling from both sides as Trump's team is seeking to have the trial pushed back to after the 2024 presidential election.
The trial is currently scheduled to begin in May.
