The Florida judge overseeing former President Donald Trump's classified documents trial ordered the public release of a co-defendant's grand-jury testimony.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon on Thursday told Walt Nauta, a former Mar-a-Lago valet driver, to release a transcript of his June 2022 grand jury testimony and file it by April 24, Newsweek reported.
Cannon added that the transcript be redacted to remove references that could identify witnesses in the trial.
In the same order, special counsel Jack Smith's team was directed to file a status report under seal detailing the "landscape" of grand jury materials and proceedings implicated in the case by April 26.
Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira were charged with obstructing government efforts to retrieve classified materials from Trump's property, The Washington Post reported.
Most media reports focused on another Cannon filing Thursday that denied Nauta and De Oliveira's attempts to have the charges against them dismissed.
Lawyers for Nauta and De Oliveira last week asked Cannon to throw out the charges, a request opposed by Smith's team, which brought charges against them and Trump.
Attorneys for the two men tried to convince Cannon that their clients had no idea the boxes they had moved on Trump's behalf contained classified materials, The New York Times reported.
"Any particular challenges to the Special Counsel's evidentiary showing can be made at trial, where the Special Counsel will bear the entire burden of proof as to all essential elements of the obstruction offenses," Cannon wrote, The Post reported.
Nauta, a Trump aide who still travels with the former president, and De Oliveira, the Mar-a-Lago property manager, face eight and four charges, respectively. They have pleaded not guilty.
Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee in November's presidential election, has pleaded not guilty to 40 charges related to allegedly retaining classified materials after he left office and obstructing federal authorities from retrieving the documents.
The trial's start date has not been finalized, with Cannon expected to postpone it beyond a current tentative start date of May 20.
The special counsel wants the trial to start in July, nearly four months before the presidential election, and Trump's lawyers suggested a potential August start date, as required by a court order, Newsweek reported.
Trump's legal team also has said the trial should not take place until 2025.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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