Oval Office operations run by alleged Trump classified documents co-conspirator

White House Oval Office operations are being run by two Donald Trump loyalists who were allegedly involved in mishandling classified documents at the end of Trump’s first term: Walt Nauta and Chamberlain Harris. Both staffers were also paid by his political operation between Trump’s presidential terms and then rewarded not only with these important roles but appointments on other government boards. Their roles and close proximity to President Trump raise questions about how they are handling sensitive records and illustrate how Trump has rewarded and empowered loyalists during his second term. 

Walt Nauta started working at the White House in the Navy mess during Trump’s first term. He then became one of Trump’s valets, and then worked at Mar-a-Lago after Trump left office. In 2023, Nauta was indicted as one of Trump’s two co-conspirators in the classified documents case. The indictment charged Trump with illegally storing classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, “including in a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, an office space, his bedroom, and a storage room.” The indictment says Nauta helped Trump pack and move boxes of documents, including during the FBI’s investigation, and charged him with conspiracy to obstruct justice, corruptly concealing documents and making false statements. 

While Nauta was working at Mar-a-Lago and facing legal jeopardy alongside Trump, he was also employed by the Trump campaign and Save America PAC—which was paying his legal fees. According to FBI notes, Nauta was promised a pardon if Trump was reelected to a second term.

When Trump returned to office, he quickly hired Nauta as Director of Oval Office Operations, and on January 29, 2025, just days after Trump returned to office, the Department of Justice asked the court to dismiss the charges against Nauta, which it did the next month. 

Less than two months later, on March 7, 2025, Trump named Nauta to the Naval Academy Board of Visitors. Nauta was also reportedly part of the select group of aides who traveled with Trump during his catering cart gambit, misleading the press about Trump’s travel plans back from Turkey earlier this summer.U.S. Naval Academy Board of Visitors.

Nauta’s deputy in Oval Office operations, Chamberlain Harris, also reportedly played a role in the FBI’s failure to find certain records during a search for classified documents and, according to a DOJ memo obtained by the House Judiciary Committee, scanned sensitive documents to a laptop and uploaded them to the cloud.

In January, Trump named Harris to the Commission of Fine Arts, which signed off on Trump’s White House ballroom. Like Nauta, she was also paid by Save America PAC before Trump took office the second time.

It is no secret that the second Trump administration is staffed with loyalists. But to have two staffers overseeing Oval Office operations who have already faced scrutiny for their handling of classified records raises unique transparency and national security concerns. While it is unclear how much power Nauta and Harris have in the Trump administration, it is clear that they have access to Trump and are likely to have proximity to the kinds of sensitive records that demand preservation and careful handling.

At the highest levels, members of the second Trump administration have reportedly mishandled records or likely avoided creating and maintaining them by using disappearing chats on apps like Signal, including possibly Pam Bondi, Doug Burgum, Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio. Meanwhile, the administration has launched a full scale assault on public transparency, by removing public databases, closing public records offices and even attempting to stop complying with the Presidential Records Act.

The tone is set at the top, and Trump is clearly not setting a tone of compliance with recordkeeping law—or the Constitution, for that matter. Trump is reportedly promising to pardon everyone within 200 feet of the Oval Office, further disincentivizing efforts to follow the law. Mass pardons would almost surely cover these two loyalists, who he has already protected and rewarded over the years.