Federal prosecutors announced the indictment on Friday against former President Donald J. Trump and one of his personal aides, Waltine Nauta, revealing devastating new details about the drag investigation. longer than a year about Mr. Trump’s handling of classified documents.
The 49-page indictment, which includes 38 counts and seven separate charges, gives the clearest picture yet of the files Mr. Trump brought with him when he left the White House. It said he had illegally kept documents related to “the United States’ nuclear programs; the possibility of military attack by the United States and its allies; and possible retaliatory plans in response to a foreign attack.”
“The unauthorized disclosure of these classified documents could pose risks to the national security of the United States, foreign relations, the safety of the United States military, human resources, and the viability of the United States. methods of gathering sensitive intelligence,” the indictment said.
The indictment describes Mr Trump knowingly clinging to documents that some aides called “his papers”. It detailed how Mr Trump suggested to one of his lawyers that he could tell prosecutors “we don’t have anything here” after a grand jury subpoena. issued for all remaining confidential documents in his possession.
“I don’t want anyone to look at my box, I really don’t,” Trump also told lawyers during that meeting, according to the indictment.
In many ways, much of the story told in the indictment has been made public for months amid widespread media coverage of the investigation. For all that information, however, the public only has a keyhole view of the volume of evidence the government has amassed.
There are new details such as sensitive intelligence files “Five Eyes” spilling out of the box onto the floor of the locker room at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s club and residence in Florida.
And there is shocking value to the fact that Mr. Trump, who has spent years avoiding having people close to take notes of his conversations, was charged in part on the basis of notes from one of his lawyers. him and the tape recording of the meeting he attended. know has been recorded.
According to the attorneys’ note, Mr Trump made a “hair plucking” which he believes implies, “why don’t you take them back to your hotel room and if anything is really bad?” bad in it, like, you know, spit it out.”
The indictment outlines a conspiracy between Mr. Trump and Mr. Nauta, who is said to have moved about 64 boxes from a storage room at Mar-a-Lago to Mr. Trump’s residence on the property. The indictment said that Mr. Nauta only returned about 30 boxes to the warehouse, apparently the rest was not taken into account.
On top of that, prosecutors presented evidence that Mr. Trump shared a highly sensitive “plan of attack” against Iran with guests at his golf club in Bedminster, NJ last month. 7 2021 – and is recorded on tape describing the document as “very high”. secret” and “secret”, while acknowledging it has not been declassified. In another September 2021 incident, he shared a top secret military map with an employee on his political action committee who did not have a security clearance.
It was unusual for prosecutors to open an indictment before the defendant appeared in court. But the decision to release documents in this case comes as Mr. Trump and his allies have fiercely attacked the investigation and, in the view of federal law enforcement officials, have distort the elements of the case.
The move is in line with the Justice Department’s practice, under Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, to release information to the public through their court filings – a tactic the department has deployed to make it public. released detailed affidavits used to justify the Trump search. resided in Florida last August.
