37 criminals prosecution Allegations against Donald Trump were sealed Friday, revealing that the former president knowingly kept hundreds of classified government records and conspired to prevent them from being returned to U.S. officials. became.
of billing documentsThe article, which alleges that President Trump kept records containing national defense information at his Florida home after he left the White House, was released the day after a grand jury in the US District Court of Miami voted to indict him. .
The indictment says, among other charges, that Trump showed classified documents to others in the summer of 2021 after leaving office in January of the same year.
Follow us live Indictment of Donald Trump Confidential document case.
One of those documents was a “plan of attack,” which he told publishers and writers at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, that the Pentagon had prepared.
According to an audio recording of July 2021 comments cited in the indictment, President Trump told them, “As president, he could have been declassified.”
“Not now, but this is still a secret,” he added.
A month or so later, in Bedminster, President Trump showed a political representative a “classified map related to a military operation” and told the man he “shouldn’t show it to the representative, and the representative should not.” You shouldn’t have access to maps,” he said. It’s close,” the indictment claims.
The indictment also indicts Trump’s valet Walter Nauta, who faces several of the same charges as his boss for conspiring with Trump to keep classified records and conceal them from a federal grand jury. there is
According to the indictment, Trump was personally involved in packing boxes of documents as he prepared to move out of the White House to his club, Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida. It is said that
The FBI’s Mar-a-Lago raid last August uncovered hundreds of classified documents that President Trump spent almost a year trying to recover but was unable to turn over to U.S. officials. .
According to the indictment, Trump as president released documents containing information about U.S. and foreign defense and weapons capabilities, the U.S. nuclear program, and the “potential vulnerability of the U.S. and its allies to military attack.” Said it was in a cardboard box.
Upon leaving the White House, President Trump ordered a bulk shipment of such boxes to Mar-a-Lago, where they were stored in ballrooms, bathrooms, showers, office spaces, bedrooms and storage rooms. stated in the indictment.
“On December 7, 2021, Nauta discovered several President Trump boxes had fallen and their contents spilled onto the floor of the storage room,” the indictment reads. [at Mar-a-Lago] It contains a document marked “SECRET//REL TO USA, FVEY”, and the information in the document can only be released to the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance, which consists of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. was shown to be ”
During the time the documents were in custody, Trump’s club hosted more than 150 social events at Mar-a-Lago, drawing tens of thousands of guests, the indictment said.
Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, who led the Trump investigation, said in a television statement Friday afternoon: ”This country has a set of laws that apply to everyone. ”
“Our laws protecting defense information are vital to the safety and security of the United States and must be enforced,” Smith said. “Violation of these laws puts our country at risk.”
Special Counsel continues to monitor Trump’s separate criminal investigation into trying to reverse his 2020 presidential defeat to President Joe Biden.
Former US President Donald Trump is seen in Midtown New York City on April 3, 2023. Trump was indicted by a grand jury and will face arraignment in a Manhattan court tomorrow.
Gotham | Gc Images | Getty Images
Trump and Nauta, who are seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, are scheduled to go to arraignment in Miami on Tuesday, the day before Trump’s 77th birthday.
He and Nauta could each face up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the most serious charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice and charges related to withholding and concealing government records.
Thirty-one of the Earls have accused President Trump of intentionally withholding national defense information.
He has also been charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice. Withhold documents or records. Unauthorized concealment of documents or records. Conceal documents in federal investigations. plan to cover up. False Statements and Representations.
In the spring of 2022, Trump was notified by the FBI that classified documents had been found in 15 boxes of government records that Trump had handed over to the National Archives, and NARA spent months trying to retrieve the documents the agency believed. He was later the subject of a criminal investigation. he was missing.
By law, the president must provide all government records to NARA when he leaves office.
“When Trump left the White House, he had numerous boxes containing classified documents transferred to the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, where he maintained his residence,” the indictment said. It is
“Mr. Trump was not authorized to possess or store these classified documents,” the indictment said.
The Justice Department has released photos of classified documents found at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.
Source: Department of Justice
Trump then suggested that his lawyer lied to the FBI and grand jury that he didn’t have the papers he asked for, and ordered him to move the box containing the papers to hide them from Trump’s own lawyers. instructed Mr. Nauto. The FBI and grand jury allege in the indictment:
Trump also said in the indictment that he suggested his lawyers hide or destroy the documents, and that he only handed some of the documents he had kept to the FBI and grand jury while claiming he cooperated fully. prosecuted for handing over
And, according to the indictment, Trump forced the FBI and grand jury to submit false certifications that all the documents were made with the knowledge that they were not true.
Trump’s trial is expected to take between 21 and 60 days, according to the indictment.
The Justice Department’s indictment includes photos of classified documents found at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.
Source: Department of Justice
Early Friday morning, two of Trump’s attorneys resigned from representing him in a classified documents case and a criminal investigation involving the 2020 election.
In late March, Trump was charged with falsifying business records related to the $130,000 hush paid by then-lawyer Michael Cohen to porn star Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 election. indicted by a jury.
President Trump has pleaded not guilty to the case, which is set to go to trial in Manhattan Supreme Court next March.
Read the indictment against Donald Trump
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