The indictment against former President Donald Trump is historic in the United States. Thursday, June 8, the former president himself announced that he had been charged by federal justice for his management of the White House archives. The result of a nearly two-year investigation into the presence of a wealth of classified information on his Florida estate after Joe Biden was elected. This Friday, June 9, the special prosecutor in charge of the investigation, Jack Smith, revealed, during a brief televised address, the 44 pages of the indictment which contains 37 counts. “The laws are the same for everyone,” he said.
The former president is notably accused of “illegal retention of information relating to national security”, “obstructing justice” and “false testimony”. Additionally, the indictment also names Walt Nauta, a personal aide to Donald Trump in the White House, as a co-conspirator. He is accused of having moved, at the request of his boss, boxes to hide them. “This indictment was voted on by a grand jury of citizens of the Southern District of Florida, Special Prosecutor Jack Smith said. seriousness of the crimes charged.”
31 counts of willfully withholding classified documents
“The classified documents that Donald Trump kept in boxes included information on the defense capabilities of the United States and foreign countries”, “on the” American nuclear programs and “on the potential vulnerabilities in the event of an attack on the States States and their allies,” according to the indictment. Their potential “dissemination would have endangered the national security of the United States”, announced the prosecutors in charge of the investigation. Especially since these documents were found in his residence in Mar a Lago, Florida, in 2021, in rooms potentially accessible to visitors.
“Trump stored his boxes containing classified documents in various locations within the Mar-a-Lago Club – including a ballroom, bathroom and shower, office, his bedroom and a storage room,” can -we read in the file which includes Pictures showing boxes stacked on the ballroom stage and in a bathroom, next to a shower and toilet. The indictment also states that Mar-a-Lago “was not an authorized place for the storage, possession, review, display or discussion of classified documents” after Trump left. of the White House.
An undated photo, provided by federal court in Florida, shows boxes of documents related to Donald Trump’s presidency stored in a restroom at his luxury Mar-a-Lago club
© / afp.com/Handout
Trump allegedly showed classified documents at least twice
According to the details of the indictment, Trump allegedly showed classified documents to unauthorized persons on at least two occasions. The document first cites a July 2021 taped meeting at his Bedminster golf club with a writer, editor and two staff members, none of whom had security clearances. According to the document, Trump “shown and described a ‘plan of attack’ which he said had been prepared for him by the Department of Defense”, and called the plan “highly confidential” and “secret”. . He then said, “As president, I could have declassified it…Now I can’t, you know, but it’s still a secret,” says the filing, which relies on an audio recording of the encounter.
The second occasion took place weeks later, in the fall of 2021, also on the Bedminster property. The indictment says the former president showed an official of his political action committee – who also had no security clearance – a classified card related to a military operation, and “told told the rep that he shouldn’t show it and that the rep shouldn’t get too close”.
Throughout the indictment, prosecutors say Donald Trump was “aware of the importance of protecting classified information,” pointing to statements he made during his presidency about the seriousness of national security secrets laws. At least 4 of the 37 counts carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, reports CBS Newswhich publishes on its website the document in its entirety. Each count of willfully withholding records carries a maximum sentence of ten years in prison; five years for those of false declarations, notes for its part the site Politico.
Trump, officially the 2024 presidential candidate, is due to make a first appearance in federal court in Miami on Tuesday, which will formally notify him of the charges against him. According to the washington post, his case was assigned to a conservative magistrate he named, Aileen Cannon. She should set the conditions to be observed pending her trial, even if it is extremely unlikely that she will ask for her continued detention on remand. Special Prosecutor Jack Smith, in charge of the case, pleads for the trial to be organized in a “speedy” way, which would minimize interference with the 2024 campaign.