Walt Nauta

Waltine Torre Nauta Jr. (born 1982 or 1983) is an American aide to U.S. president Donald Trump.

While a petty officer in the U.S. Navy, Nauta was Trump's valet at the White House. After Trump's term ended, Nauta continued to work for him at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club and residence.

In June 2023, Trump and Nauta were indicted by a federal grand jury in a criminal case over violations of the Espionage Act and related offenses. Nauta was charged with six counts of federal crimes and pleaded not guilty. On July 27, two new counts of obstruction were brought against Nauta.

The original six charges against Nauta relate to allegations that he, acting at Trump's direction, moved boxes that included illegally retained classified documents and national defense-related documents to Trump's residence, and then lied about it to federal investigators. He was indicted for conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document or record, corruptly concealing a document in a federal investigation, scheme to conceal, and making false statements and representations.

In February 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit dismissed the case against Nauta upon the federal prosecutor's request.

Nauta was born in Hågat, Guam, and grew up there with five siblings. He graduated from Southern High School in nearby Sånta Rita-Sumai.

Nauta enlisted in the U.S. Navy in July 2001. He was a cook, with the rating of culinary specialist. Among his Navy postings were stints with a strike fighter squadron in California, and at a submarine base in Georgia. In 2012, he was assigned to the Presidential Food Service, which is run by the U.S. Navy and manages the White House Mess as part of the White House Military Office.

During the presidency of Donald Trump, Nauta became a personal valet to the president. He was responsible for responding to the presidential call button, including when the president requested Diet Cokes, which Nauta would bring to Trump on a silver platter. Nauta was promoted to senior chief petty officer in September 2020.

Nauta was accused of sexual harassment and revenge porn by several women in spring 2021, which led to him being reassigned and his security credentials being docked. This was several weeks before he left the Navy and became a personal employee of Trump.

Nauta's service in the Navy ended in September 2021.

When Trump's term of office ended in January 2021, Nauta accompanied him to Mar-a-Lago, where he worked as Trump's butler and body man. He frequently traveled with Trump to public appearances and campaign events. By August 2021, Nauta was on the payroll of Trump's political action committee, Save America. He was also paid by Trump's 2024 presidential campaign beginning in November 2022.

Nauta was called as a witness in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigation into Donald Trump's handling of government documents; the investigation began in 2022. Investigators with the independent special counsel investigation led by Jack Smith came to doubt Nauta's account of his activities, and beginning in fall 2022 considered whether to charge him with crimes. Nauta declined to cooperate with prosecutors, and on May 24, 2023, the special counsel formally notified Nauta that he was a target of the investigation.

On June 8, 2023, Nauta was co-indicted with Trump by a federal grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, based in Miami. Nauta was indicted on six counts: conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document or record, corruptly concealing a document in a federal investigation, scheme to conceal, and making false statements and representations.

According to the indictment, in the waning days of Trump's term in office, both Trump and Nauta packed items from the White House to ship to Mar-a-Lago. The indictment also alleged that, after a federal grand jury issued a subpoena in May 2022 requiring the return of the government documents, Nauta assisted Trump in concealing documents from the grand jury, the FBI, and Trump's own lawyers. On July 27, a superseding indictment was filed with two new counts of obstruction against Nauta, bringing the total counts against Nauta to eight.

The federal magistrate judge twice postponed Nauta's arraignment so Stanley Woodward—Nauta's Washington, D.C. lawyer, whose fees were paid by Trump's Save America political action committee—could find local counsel admitted to practice in the Southern District of Florida with whom to work, as required by court rules. (Woodward was not a member of the local court bar, and thus was appearing pro hac vice.)

Following extensive pre-trial motions; in July 2024, Judge Cannon held that the Justice Department appointed special counsel Jack Smith illegally. Smith ended the criminal case against Trump after his November presidential election win but appealed the dismissal of Nauta and De Olivera. On February 11, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit dismissed the case upon the federal prosecutor's request.

Nauta continued working with Donald Trump during his second term in office. In March 2025, Trump nominated Nauta to serve on the board of visitors for the U.S. Naval Academy.

• Michael Cohen, former attorney for Trump; pleaded guilty to tax evasion and campaign-finance violations, and served one year in prison
• Allen Weisselberg, former CFO of the Trump Organization; pleaded guilty to 15 criminal charges, and served four months in prison
• Peter Navarro, Trump administration official; convicted of contempt of Congress and sentenced to four months in prison

• Media related to Walt Nauta at Wikimedia Commons