Amid fallout of Trump immunity ruling, Judge Cannon refuses to dismiss case against valet

Left: Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a Super Tuesday election night party Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. AP Photo/Evan Vucci. /Right: Aileen M. Cannon speaks remotely during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight nomination hearing to be U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on July 29, 2020, in Washington. U.S. Senate via AP.

As Former President Donald Trump’s defense begins to try to use the Supreme Court’s seismic immunity ruling to get him out of the Mar-a-Lago documents prosecution, one of his co-defendants is having a rougher time of it.

Waltine “Walt” Naua, a valet also charged in the case, failed to get it dismissed on Saturday after arguing that prosecutors went after him in part because he refused to appear before a grand jury and out of their alleged dislike of his attorney. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who Trump appointed to federal bench, ruled Saturday that his argument was insufficient.

“To succeed in his selective prosecution claim, Defendant Nauta must show that (1) ‘similarly situated individuals were not prosecuted,’ and (2) the prosecution was ‘motivated by a discriminatory purpose,'” she wrote, adding “Neither prong is satisfied here.”

She determined there was no evidence showing that this prosecution was retribution for not showing up to the grand jury.

“Even if the Court were to accept that Defendant Nauta invoked his Fifth Amendment right, there is no evidence showing that Defendant Nauta’s exercise of his privilege against self-incrimination motivated the charges against him,” she wrote.

She took “no position” on whether prosecutors in an Aug. 24, 2022, meeting tried to coerce Nauta cooperating in the investigation.

From the ruling:

Lastly, the Court turns to Defendant Nauta’s argument that prosecutors’ animus for his attorney, Stanley Woodward, motivated the indictment [ECF No. 487 pp. 3–7]. This argument is based primarily on (1) an August 24, 2022, meeting during which Mr. Woodward alleges that Mr. Bratt “attempted to coerce Mr. Nauta’s compliance with the investigation by dangling potential favorability on Mr. Woodward’s potential judicial nomination” to the Superior Court for the District of Columbia [ECF No. 487 pp. 3–5; see ECF Nos. 115, 118 (competing portrayals of the August 24, 2022, meeting)];3 and (2) a “campaign of intimidation and harassment against [Woodward]” based on interactions Woodward had with prosecutors in this case and others [ECF No. 487 pp. 5–7]. The Special Counsel disagrees with Defendant Nauta’s characterization of these interactions [ECF No. 488].

Recently , Trump’s attorneys argued that the case against the former POTUS should be mostly put on hold in the wake of the the Supreme Court’s immunity decision.

In a notice of supplemental authority submitted to Cannon, the Trump team contends that the Supreme Court has helped the former president on multiple fronts.

“ Trump [the Supreme Court case] guts the [Special Counsel’s] Office’s position that President Trump has ‘no immunity’ and further demonstrates the politically-motivated nature of their contention that the motion is ‘frivolous,’” the filing said. “ Trump also confirms that the Office cannot rely on ‘official acts’ evidence” in the Espionage Act case.

They are also citing Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurrence, which, as Law&Crime reported in the immediate aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision, expressed Thomas’ belief that Jack Smith’s appointment is “invalid unless a statute created the Special Counsel’s office and gave the Attorney General the power to fill it ‘by Law.’”

As she prepares to mull over the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark presidential immunity ruling ., Cannon on Saturday decided to pause several upcoming deadlines in light of the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling.

Colin Kalmbacher and Matt Naham contributed to this report.

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