Former President Donald J. Trump and his personal assistant, Walt Nauta, were ordered by a federal magistrate Tuesday not to discuss their criminal case, even though the two work closely together and see each other practically every day.
Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman, who oversaw the hearing, said all discussions related to the case should go through their lawyers. Mr. Trump and Mr. Nauta have been charged with conspiracy to obstruct a federal investigation into Mr. Trump’s handling of dozens of classified documents after he left office.
Mr. Nauta did not make a plea. An attorney for Mr Nauta, who is accused of lying to investigators and conspiring with Mr Trump to hide boxes of classified documents from FBI and federal prosecutors, asked for a two-week extension because he needed a local attorney to sponsor him.
The restrictions – which do not apply to other topics of conversation – are common for co-defendants in a criminal case, but they can be particularly difficult to enforce, as Mr Nauta’s job is to follow the former president throughout his days and different needs . To underscore Mr. Nauta’s closeness to Mr. Trump, Mr. Nauta rode with him from Mr. Trump’s club, Doral, to the courthouse for Tuesday’s hearing.
The two men talk a lot and have spent most of the past two years as Mr. Nauta, first serving as a White House clerk and now serving as Mr. Trump’s aide in his post-presidential life. The former president tends to treat his closest personal aides as sounding boards for all sorts of topics.
Mr. Trump is hardly known for his restraint under typical circumstances, but especially when ordered to do something by a person in a position of authority. And an edict not to discuss a matter that has preoccupied Mr Trump for weeks poses an even greater challenge.
The same restriction on the defendants’ communications was also applied to witnesses in the case, a list that the government is supposed to list. That poses a similar challenge to the situation with Mr. Nauta: A number of Mr. Trump’s advisers, current and former Mar-a-Lago employees, and even some of his lawyers have been interviewed in the case.