Yep. Not so much as a pardon.
FBI Search and Seizure at Trump's Mar-A-Lago Residence, August 8, 2022, Case Dismissed July 15, 2024
To the tune of “Institutionalized”:
I go: Trump, just give me a Pardon, please
All I want is a Pardon, and he wouldn’t give it to me
All I wanted was a Pardon, just one Pardon, and he wouldn’t give it to me
Just a Pardon
I’m not guilty- institution
You’re the one who’s guilty- institution
You’re driving me crazy - institution
They stuck me in an institution
Said it was the only solution
To give him the needed professional help
To protect Trump from the enemy - myself
No, I used my fingers.
Seriously, that’s a plus for Nauta. If the Judge decides that she can’t in good conscience sentence this great man who did so much for the country to jail time, she can’t possibly use the same reasoning to apply to Nauta.
Is it really better to deal before initially pleading not guilty?
Maybe there is no rush here from the POV of Nauta’s lawyer.
P.S. If the trial is delayed because Trump will first be tried in New York or Georgia, will Nauta go by himself? Could it be that Nauta’s attorney doubts this trial will ever take place?
I’m no lawyer, but her client pled today. Such a doubt would be the height of foolishness. But it might also explain why he finally found an attorney to represent him.
Nauta may also find that Trump turns on him at some point.
“I knew nothing about these documents. I gave all responsibility for the boxes to Walt. It’s entirely his fault.”
If the judge gives Trump a light sentence, she won’t have arrived at that through “reasoning”.
Yes, and not just in a legal sense. When an authoritarian-wannabe gets a second presidential term, things get more serious. Nauta could be thinking that if Trump gets re-elected after he turned on the boss, he’ll get squashed like a bug. And he might not be wrong about that.
If Nauta is lucky, he can delay making a plea decision until the Nov. 2024 election results are known.
“rationalizing” is probably closer.
But “He’s too great a president to serve a prison term” just doesn’t apply to Nauta. So she’ll need two separate weak rationalizations to apply to two co-defendants on a conspiracy case. Not happening, as I see it.
That’s actually a much better defense than he’s come up with so far. Blame it all on the lackey. Who moved the boxes? Who texted about the boxes? Who was in charge of the boxes? It was all Walt, I tell ya!! Still dumb, but at least more believable than psychic declassified.
… except that I believe some of the video Smith has of Nauta moving boxes also has Nauta talking on the phone simultaneously with Trump, who is telling Nauta what to do with those boxes.
Oops.
I find it delicious that this killer evidence was provided by Trump himself. 
“Sure I was on the phone with him. Told him to stop putting extra starch in my shirts. I had no idea he was moving boxes. If he tells you otherwise, he’s a dirty liar”
That would be some real karma for a guy who once said he doesn’t use email because “half of my friends are under indictment right now because they sent emails to each other about how they’re screwing people,” yet is known to spend his days blabbing on the phone.
I believe Trump has also promised to gladly pay him Tuesday for a hamberder today.
This would be among the kinder, gentler epithets Trump has attached to anyone whom he thinks has betrayed him. More like “a filthy, Trump-hating who doesn’t have the loyalty of a disgraceful dog or, frankly, who probably doesn’t understand what the word ‘loyalty’ means.”
And that just highlights exactly how stupid and delusional Trump is. The whole point of having lackeys doing the actual work is so you can plausibly claim exactly this. Trump can’t even do crime correctly.
Maybe Rudy told him they could still get him on RICO charges for that. So Trump figured that means he has to micromanage everything to avoid that.
Of course the actual issue is that he’s a micromanager. Just physically not able to work on the assumption that something was done to his specs unless he was involved. He can’t even make it through a prepared statement without changing it on the fly.
Besides, Trump is way too insecure to plausibly deny anything. He’ll admit to something just to make sure everyone knows he’s able to do it.
Watch as he’ll throw Nauta under the bus and then take credit for moving the boxes anyway.
Heh. If Trump wants to trot out that defense at trial, he’ll have to take the stand, under oath, and be cross-examined.
Not gonna happen.
I feel like the two things Walt Nauta is NOT saying to himself are:
- “This is going to work out okay. President Trump has my back. I know he does. That man is loyal to a fault,” and
- “I’m going to be fine. I’ve just retained my own personal version of a member of OJ Simpson’s vaunted Dream Team – among the best legal minds on the planet!”
Maybe this doesn’t add anything new to what we already knew, but she has “Lightweight” written all over her.
I guess I have to wonder whether Sasha Dadan is just letterhead to get past the requirement to have local counsel representing Nauta.
Maybe the (only) real work will be done by Stanley Woodward – definitely an apparently much heavier hitter.
ETA: you also have to wonder whether Trump’s SuperPAC is (still) paying Nauta’s legal fees. Talk about your conflict. Cassidy Hutchinson figured that one out.