During a ceremony honoring the U.S. Naval Academy's football team, President Donald Trump is said to have suggested that his longtime aide Walt Nauta may pursue a gubernatorial run in Guam, a remark that comes amid the recent dismissal of federal charges against Nauta.
According to a Tuesday post on X by Nathaniel Reed, a congressional correspondent for Scripps News, Trump said Nauta "MAY run for Governor of Guam" but added, "We're not talking about that right now."
The comment comes just weeks after a federal appeals court officially dropped the case against Nauta.
Based in Atlanta, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit dismissed the charges in a one-line order in early February. That decision also included Carlos de Oliveira, the former Mar-a-Lago property manager, marking the conclusion of the last remaining legal threads from former special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into Trump's handling of classified materials.
Nauta, a Navy veteran who served as Trump's valet at the White House before continuing to work with him as a personal aide at Mar-a-Lago, was initially accused of moving boxes containing classified materials at Trump's direction and misleading investigators about his actions.
The legal spotlight turned to Nauta in June 2023 when he accompanied Trump to a federal courthouse in Miami. The event marked a historic moment — Trump became the first former president in U.S. history to be federally indicted. Nauta, traveling in the motorcade with Trump, sat beside him at the defense table but did not enter a plea at that time.
Guam, a U.S. territory in the Western Pacific, elects its governor every four years, the next being November 2026.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this story.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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