(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) President Joe Biden’s partisan Department of Justice allegedly attempted to coerce former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago valet into cooperation with the federal government by bribing his lawyer, the Guardian reported.
Last November, in the wake of the DOJ’s militarized raid of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, prosecutors were attempting to gain the cooperation of valet Walt Nauta, who was under fire for allegations of helping Trump conceal subpoenaed classified documents.
Nauta’s lawyer, Stanley Woodward, was soon thereafter summoned to the justice department to meet with prosecutors regarding his client’s alleged role. At that meeting, prosecutors attempted to persuade Woodward to cooperate with federal investigators against the former president.
At the time, the prosecutors attempted to claim that Nauta had made false statements, and could otherwise be in legal trouble if he chose not to cooperate.
Prosecutors also affirmed that they did not believe Woodward to be a “Trump guy,” which could play to Woodward’s favor in his attempt to gain a judge position in the future—a position that could be offered to him if he played ball.
Woodward had previously applied for a federal judge position, and the DOJ has declined to comment.
The revelation comes in the wake of Thursday’s indictment of Trump in an attempt to interfere with the election and weaponize the legal system.
Precisely how Woodward’s allegations will affect the trial is unclear, but it was delivered in a letter filed under seal with the chief U.S. judge in Washington, James Boasberg, and could reveal the attempted coercion of a witness’s lawyer.
According to Joyce Vance, a former United States attorney, the charges are not serious enough to alter the outcome of the trial.
“Even if it’s true, it would not rise to the level of prosecutorial misconduct,” Vance said. “Prosecutors don’t have any influence over judicial applications and all the parties to the conversation would have known that.”
