When Donald Trump was indicted by the federal government on Friday, he wasn’t alone: Also indicted along with him as a coconspirator was Trump’s personal aide, Walt Nauta. This of course isn’t the first a Trump employee ended up in this situation, and on Monday, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes invited another ex-Trump employee to discuss the matter: Michael Cohen.
The former attorney had very simple advice for Nauta: “Run. Run as fast as you can, my friend.”
Trump, in case you’ve forgotten, faces 37 federal criminal charges related to his unlawful possession and mishandling of classified documents, and the lengths he went to conceal his possession of the documents from federal authorities. Nauta, according to the indictment, actively helped Trump conceal these documents and even lied to federal agents on Trump’s behalf.
And since Cohen, who worked for Trump from 2006-2018, committed various forms of business and campaign finance fraud and tax evasion, crimes he says he did on Trump’s behalf and for which he went to prison, he has a fairly unique perspective on Nauta’s predicament.
“The final thing I want to ask you about is Walt Nauta, who is indicted along with [Trump], and who is alleged to have participated in the conspiracy by being the person who moved the boxes at Donald Trump’s direction and lied about it to federal agents,” Hayes said to Cohen on Monday’s “All In With Chris Hayes.” “That lie is recorded in the indictment… I find myself having some sympathy for the man, but I’m curious, as someone who has also been in a somewhat similar position, how you feel about it read the facts about Mr. Nauta?”
“OK, so Walt will get thrown under the bus. There is no doubt about this one. And if there’s anything that I can do, I would look straight into the camera,” Cohen said as he preceded to do exactly that, “and say, ‘Walt, I know you’re watching. Run. Run as fast as you can, my friend.’ Right? And as a former military guy, I know you know how to run quickly. Run as quickly as you can.”
“Because Donald Trump will throw you under the bus faster than you can possibly imagine. And he won’t throw you under the bus simply just to save himself,” Cohen added. “He’ll just throw you under the bus simply because he can, and because he thinks it will provide him with some form of a benefit.”
Watch the whole “All In” clip in the video above.
