Trump’s codefendant told the FBI he thought the former president was hoarding hairspray

This week a transcript of an FBI interview with Walt Nauta, one of Trump’s codefendants in the Mar-a-Lago documents case, was unsealed – and it contains some wild revelations. The interview took place on May 26, 2022 – prior to the execution of a search warrant at the Florida property – and Nauta is charged with lying to the FBI during the interview.

Classification markings

Nauta denied having seen any documents bearing classification markings, despite having sent photographs to another Mar-a-Lago employee of documents spilled over the floor with such markings plainly visible, as recounted in the indictment. 

He also told investigators that the “first time” he’d ever seen the 15 boxes that were returned to the National Archives and Records Administration was when he was asked to assist in loading them onto a truck for transportation to Washington D.C. Text messages and images included in the indictment would suggest otherwise.

Nauta suggested to the FBI that the former president only kept boxes in a limited number of places at one point in the interview, however evidence contained in the indictment reveals that he knew this to be a false statement.

Hoarding hairspray

When asked what was in the many boxes Trump kept, Nauta responded “personal items”. After further questioning, he revealed that he meant “hairspray, shampoo…you know, multiple hairspray cans.” He also claimed that Trump was known to “hoard” such items, including deodorant.

Was Nauta coached?

Without explicitly stating so, the FBI seemed to be hinting that they knew his answers were evasive and untruthful, asking him whether he was told what to say should they or NARA come calling and whether anyone from Mar-a-Lago knew that he was speaking to investigators. 

Rumors of further disclose of classified information

The indictment lists two instances in which the former president disclosed classified information to third parties who did not hold a security clearance or have a “need to know”, including one incident that was audio recorded. In Nauta’s voluntary interview, the two FBI agents ask him if he recalled an “event…after his presidency” where Trump “displayed a document that had classified markings on it to people” on the former president’s plane. Nauta claimed that not to have seen or heard anything about such an incident. 

The disclosures of classified information discussed in the indictment both took place at Bedminster, so the revelation that the former president was also showing off such documents while onboard his plane – if it’s proven to be true – shows once again that Trump cannot be trusted with national defense information. It’s particularly ironic given his claims about the importance of protecting such information on the 2016 campaign trail, where he proclaimed, “we can’t have someone in the Oval Office who doesn’t understand the meaning of the word confidential or classified.” For once, he’s right – we can’t.

The FBI repeatedly pointed out the stakes of having this type of information freely floating about outside of a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, appealing to Nauta’s prior military service and the risks sources take to obtain such intelligence. They state that they needed to ascertain whether the documents were “at least kept in a somewhat controlled environment” to quell fears that they may have been “exposed to a foreign intelligence service.” Nauta barely engages on these points, even when the agents tell him that some intelligence operations may need to be shut down because “it’s not worth the risk” of potential outside exposure of such information.

A day after the unsealing of the transcript, Nauta appeared in front of Judge Cannon to argue that the charges against him are too vague and should be dismissed. Reporters present for the hearing suggested that the judge seemed skeptical of this argument.