The team of Special Counsel Jack Smith at the federal Justice Department has produced documentation that appears to flatly disprove claims of malfeasance from Stanley Woodward, a lawyer in Trump’s circles who now represents Walt Nauta, a co-defendant in the criminal case that Smith brought over Trump’s harboring of government documents.
Smith’s team had previously revealed that a witness had changed what they were telling investigators in the documents probe after getting new legal representation — a public defender rather than Woodward. Relatedly, authorities raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest on Woodward’s part. The witness who changed their account to investigators after getting a new lawyer could be called as a trial witness, where Woodward could be expected to question them while representing Nauta.
Woodward subsequently accused the feds of having wantonly revealed protected information from grand jury proceedings in D.C., but now, Smith’s team has spotlighted that they received evidently express permission from the relevant judicial authorities in D.C. to make the relevant disclosures. James Boasberg, the chief judge in D.C. District Court, allowed the government to disclose in Florida filings “all information related to the conflicts hearing conducted by this Court on June 30 and July 5, 2023,” per an order.
“In what can only be described as a brazen and overt effort to influence the Court and/or the court of public opinion, the Special Counsel selectively quotes defense counsel’s submission in deliberate contravention of a sealing order issued by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia,” Woodward had alleged of federal prosecutors, as spotlighted by The Messenger.
Woodward also alleged he has been the target of “threatening and/or disparaging” messages following the government’s release of details about his past representation of that witness in the documents case. The individual he formerly represented eventually provided information to investigators implicating — at least per his account — Trump in an attempt to delete security footage from Mar-a-Lago that would have been of interest to federal authorities.
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Earlier today, a lawyer for Trump’s aide Walt Nauta claimed that the government disclosed sealed information from grand jury proceedings in D.C.
Jack Smith’s office just filed docs showing the judge granted their request for disclosure.
Background https://t.co/ZkcbTiiKE5 pic.twitter.com/HhshKUF9nw
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) August 26, 2023
