Walt Nauta, who has been loyal to Donald Trump in the White House and ever since as a squire, Diet Coke drinker, and occasional parcel carrier, is now co-defendant to the former president and his boss. came close to You have to feel sorry for the man.
Nauta could probably have avoided 6 federal crimes If you cooperated with federal prosecutors to help build a case against their real target, Mr. Trump, for complicity in stealing classified documents and concealing them from the government, you would put him at a disadvantage, and what would you do? He was expected to be sentenced to a year in prison. Nauta may still flip, but it is considered unlikely. The fact that he chose not to support the federal government does not diminish his sympathy.
opinion columnist
Jackie Calums
Jackie Calums brings a critical eye to the country’s political scene. She has decades of experience covering the White House and Congress.
No, whatever the legal consequences, the 40-year-old Navy veteran is a tragic figure. According to the indictment, Nauta obeyed orders from the former commander-in-chief to move a box containing classified documents from room to room in Mar-a-Lago and hid it from investigators and Mr. Trump’s lawyers. Above, he said he lied to the FBI about his statements. action.
Nauta’s misplaced loyalties put him at the head of an immeasurably long line of people, famous and obscure, whose lives have been turned upside down by the self-centered Trump.
Some of these people had worked in high and low positions (like Nauta) under the previous president, but were unknowingly embroiled in legal and ethical conflicts, Resisting Trump’s plans only resulted in public humiliation. Few people, such as chief cabinet secretaries and press secretaries, came out of their jobs unharmed. Some have served time, including Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen and Allen Weisselberg, the longtime chief financial officer of Trump’s firm.
The other victims didn’t really help Trump — except that in his mind everyone thinks so. thinking about 2020 national election administrators They found themselves under a barrage of his words when they challenged President Trump’s election fraud lie, and later met with death threats from his MAGA supporters.Bill Gates, lifelong Republican member of the Maricopa County Oversight Board, Arizona battling PTSD. Ruby Freeman, a black election volunteer in Georgia, said Jan. 6 after she testified about the racist attacks she and her daughter were subjected to when President Trump falsely accused her of voter fraud. asked the House Committee on Is the US targeting you? “
Some of Trump’s targets have been ruthlessly attacked simply for criticizing him. gold star parents His Muslim son, an army captain who died in Iraq, spoke out against President Trump’s anti-Islamic rhetoric. Still others, like thousands, were simply anonymous pawns in Trump’s political game. children of immigrants separated About 1,000 family members at the border still have not been reunited with relatives over the years.
Forget about judging a defeated president by policy prescriptions. Reasonable people may disagree about them. When it suits him, he puts aside even the tendency to bend, if not break, the law. At least he’s starting to be held accountable — presumably soon, including charges of trying to reverse the defeat against Joe Biden and foment a rebellion.
The most compelling argument for Trump’s unfitness to be president remains his brutality, his use of people for his own ends, regardless of the danger to him or his family. His demeanor, and whatever the reason, is a purely selfish malice towards countless others. Or for no reason.
I have never seen someone like him in the presidency. You should never do that again.
A computer search for “For Trump, loyalty is a one-way street,” or “Donald Trump,” and “throws you under the bus,” as many of his estranged pals have said, has been around for years. Get millions of hits across. As this week’s Nauta-related article.
Speaking from experience, ex-convict and former Trump attorney Cohen has been quoted as using both phrases.he lament Nauta said he didn’t cooperate with prosecutors to save his prison sentence, saying, “My loyalty to Donald Trump is like First Avenue in Manhattan. It’s a one-way street.” On MSNBC, Cohen stared straight into the camera as if talking to Nauta, Said“Run as fast as you can, my friend…because Donald Trump will throw you under the bus sooner than you can imagine.”
Another former Trump attorney, Ty Cobb, feels sorry for Nauta as well. Cobb: Trump would be shocked if he said 10 words a day Said Washington Post. And two of her words were, no Thank you.
After indicting Trump and Nauta, the former president praised his squire and Nauta. protested on his social media sites The FBI and the Department of Justice are “trying to destroy his life, as well as the lives of many others,” it said.
Trump was projecting again.
