2023-06-10 05:00:23
That emerges from the indictment once morest the Republican, which was published on Friday. According to this, Trump kept documents on US nuclear weapons and military activities of other countries in his private estate Mar-a-Lago following the end of his term in the White House.
A total of seven categories of offenses are listed, Trump is charged with a total of 37 offenses. He is accused of, among other things, conspiracy to obstruct investigations and unlawful retention of highly sensitive information, including details of US and foreign nuclear capabilities and US military contingency plans.
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New charges once morest ex-US President Trump
property searched
The background is the affair surrounding Trump’s handling of secret government documents following he left the White House. The federal police FBI had searched his private home Mar-a-Lago in Florida in August and confiscated various classified information, some with the highest classification level.
After the change of power, Trump had no authority to possess or keep secret government documents, the indictment states. His Mar-a-Lago property was not an approved place to store the records. Trump kept boxes of classified information in his bedroom, a bathroom, a shower, a ballroom and a storage room, among other things.
Some boxes of intelligence documents were temporarily stored in a room where public events were held. A storage room for documents in more than 80 boxes was easily accessible via a public pool area in Mar-a-Lago. Trump’s residence is not a private house but a club with rooms for paying guests and many events such as weddings.
Photo Gallery: Mar-a-Lago: This is Trump’s luxury home
(Photo: NICHOLAS KAMM (AFP)) Bild 1/11
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Among other things, Trump is accused of intentionally storing national defense information. This point falls under the US espionage law and alone can be punished with up to ten years in prison. According to the indictment, documents found on Trump dealt, among other things, with the defense capabilities of the USA and other countries, including nuclear weapons, and with military weaknesses in the defense of the USA and its partners.
Potential military options from unnamed states were also discussed. Other documents discussed foreign support for terrorist attacks on the United States and “the timing and details of the attack in a foreign country.”
The investigators also detail in the indictment how Trump spoke to other people regarding the information, some of which was top secret, or showed it to third parties. A sound recording documents a meeting between Trump and a writer for an interview. Trump said he had found a “highly confidential” document detailing the US military’s plan to attack a country whose name was omitted from the text.
According to the transcript of the recording, Trump said a short time later: “This is classified information. Look, look at it.” None of those present were authorized to read the top-secret paper.
Plot
According to the indictment, Trump actively tried to obstruct the investigation once morest him. To this end, he conspired with his personal assistant, Walt Nauta, once morest whom charges were also brought. Among other things, Trump instructed the employee to take boxes elsewhere. He is said to have suggested to a lawyer to hide or destroy documents.
Trump is said to have talked to his lawyers regarding the secret documents in May 2022 – i.e. before the FBI searched his property. He is said to have said: “Wouldn’t it be better if we just told them that we don’t have anything here?” and: “Isn’t it better if there are no documents?”
After Trump officially announced in November that he would run once more in the 2024 election, the Justice Department used independent special counsel Jack Smith to outsource the politically sensitive investigation into Trump. Smith promised a speedy trial in Washington Friday and urged the public to read the full indictment to understand the scope and seriousness of the crimes.
It is the first time a federal indictment has been filed once morest a former US President. Trump had already been charged at the state level in New York in April in connection with hush money payments to a porn star. But other cases are being investigated once morest Trump. So far, however, the allegations in connection with the documents weigh the heaviest from a legal point of view.
The unprecedented indictment comes in the midst of the already fraught 2024 presidential election campaign and will once once more test US democracy. In polls, Trump is far ahead in the field of Republican presidential candidates. He sees the charges once morest him as “election interference at the highest level” and “waging war” with legal means. US President Joe Biden, once morest whom Trump wants to run once more in 2024, rejected this once more: He has no contact with the Attorney General on the matter.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, for 2024 Trump’s Republican challenger in the race for the presidential candidacy, spoke for his inner-party competitor: “I think there can only be one benchmark for the judiciary in this country. Hilary had her emails. There Is there a different standard for a Democratic Secretary of State than for a former Republican President?”. In the race for the 2016 presidential election, Clinton was accused of sending business emails through a private server.
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