Aileen Cannon Asks Trump Aide to Explain Jack Smith's Grand Jury

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon filed a court document on Monday requesting evidence from Walt Nauta, an aide to former President Donald Trump, regarding special counsel Jack Smith's request to have an out-of-district grand jury.

Monday's filing comes as Trump continues to face legal trouble amid several indictments. Smith, who was chosen by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to oversee its probes into the former president, indicted him last week on four charges relating to the 2020 election and the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Trump plead not guilty to the charges in a Washington, D.C., court on Thursday. Meanwhile, the DOJ also indicted the former president in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case, which Trump also plead not guilty to, earlier this year.

Nauta, along with Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira, was charged in the classified documents case for trying to obstruct the federal attempt to retrieve the classified material from Trump's Florida home.

In the court filing, Cannon, who was appointed to the bench by Trump after he lost the 2020 election, addressed concerns by the DOJ that there is a conflict of interest with Nauta's attorney, Stanley Woodward, as well as evidence relating to the out-of-district grand jury that is investigating the allegations against Nauta. According to the filing, Nauta's lawyers are required to respond to the motion by August 17, and prosecutors must respond by August 22.

"Among other topics as raised in the Motion, the response shall address the legal propriety of using an out-of-district grand jury proceeding to continue to investigate and/or to seek post-indictment hearings on matters pertinent to the instant indicted matter in this district," Cannon wrote in the filing.

Nauta previously pled not guilty during his arraignment that occurred in Florida. Prosecutors alleged that he lied to the FBI during an interview about boxes of classified documents that were found at Mar-a-Lago.

"I told you Judge Cannon is legit. She is not going to tolerate Jack Smith's bullsh*t," journalist Julie Kelly wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday morning. "This is gold--she asks defense to raise possible grand jury abuse by DOJ for conducting nearly all of the investigation in DC then switching to FLA at last minute for indictment."

According to CNN, Smith's office previously told Cannon that "the grand jury in this district [in Florida] and a grand jury in the District of Columbia continued to investigate further obstructive activity," which resulted in the charges against Nauta and Trump.

The motion filed by Cannon also denied a request by Smith to have further information about Woodward disclosed and instead set a date to have a court briefing over these issues.

"A potential conflict exists because Mr. Woodward previously represented one witness and currently represents two other witnesses who the Government may call to testify at the trial of his client Nauta," prosecutors wrote last week in regard to Nauta's lawyer, MSNBC reported.

Nauta's lawyer declined to make any comments after Newsweek reached out via email.