Trump classified documents case ramps up as aide claims boxes contained hairspray

The transcript of an FBI interview with a former Trump aide published this week reveals the employee told agents he believed boxes stored at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort contained hairspray, shampoo, deodorant and newspaper clippings.

However, the case alleging Donald Trump mishandled sensitive documents from the White House remains more or less a “slam-dunk”, says one US politics expert.

Mr Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, who still work for the former president, were on Friday due to appear in a Florida court to ask a judge to throw out charges that they helped obstruct the classified documents investigation.

In the May 2022 interview, Mr Nauta told agents he transported boxes of Mr Trump’s “personal items” from the White House to the Florida club when the former president left in 2021, but did not know of any documents with classification markings on them.

He also said he was not aware of Mr Trump allegedly taking out secret documents on board a plane with his aides, as was widely reported, explaining that he “sits at the back of plane”.

Dr Christopher Phelps, a lecturer in American politics at the University of Nottingham, acknowledged that it was possible Mr Nauta was telling the truth but said it will be hard to derail this case.

“There is absolutely no doubt that there were sensitive documents at Mar-a-Lago,” he claimed, adding he had seen pictures of some pages outlined in red tape, which indicates they relate to top-secret information.

“They don’t need Nauta to get at Trump.

“It would possibly have been useful as one element in a complex case to flip Nauta and have him testify against Trump and give details of all their conversations and reveal the things they didn’t know, from behind the scenes.

“But whether he stonewalls is probably of very little concern to them in terms of whether they can win their case.”

The transcript also revealed FBI officers told Mr Nauta they were looking into a year’s worth of missing documents which contain “classified information […] damaging to national security”. Mr Nauta was allowed to file a version of the interview transcript with minimal redactions, ahead of his hearing.

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Mr Trump is charged with 37 counts of mishandling classified documents. The case, which was brought last year, alleged he stored documents in “a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, an office space, his bedroom, and a storage room” at Mar-a-Lago. He denies the allegations.

Investigators seized around 13,000 documents from Mar-a-Lago back in 2021.

Dr Phelps pointed to Mr Trump’s demands for “absolute loyalty”, and said it leaves his allies stuck between loyalty to him and assisting the FBI’s investigation.

In particular, he pointed to revelations last month that Mr Trump installed a new leadership team at the Republican National Committee, which included his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, who was appointed as co-chair.

In interviews for the RNC positions, interviewees were all asked if they believed the 2020 election was stolen.

But Dr Phelps said defending Mr Trump on the basis that a former staffer could be rewarded or pardoned if the presumptive Republican nominee wins this year’s presidential election represents a “hazardous wager”.

“Some people have thought Trump had their backs only to find that he doesn’t deliver,” he said.

Last week, US District Judge Aileen Cannon denied Mr Trump’s attempt to have the classified documents case dismissed based on the Presidential Records Act, the second motion to dismiss rejected by the judge. A trial date has been set for 20 May.

Mr Trump has been charged in four criminal cases. He denies all the charges.

Recent polling by Reuters and Ipsos Mori suggests 69 per cent of US voters regard the charges around removing classified documents from the White House as serious, meaning any conviction could affect his election chances.