Secret documents even in the shower: what Trump is accused of for his handling of classified files

Federal prosecutors in the United States revealed this Friday a 37-count indictment against the former president donald trump for his alleged mishandling of classified documents.

The 49-page document includes 31 separate counts of intentional withholding of national defense information under the Espionage Act.

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These charges stem from the hundreds of documents Trump kept at his Florida home after leaving office.

The files include information on the weapons capabilities of the United States and its allies.

Prosecutors say Trump took about 300 classified files to his Florida property, Mar-a-Lago, after leaving the White House.

About 100 of them, some labeled top secret, were seized when the FBI searched that Palm Beach mansion last August.

The indictment alleges that Mar-a-Lago, a Palm Beach golf club, hosted events for tens of thousands of members and guests.

The text states: “The classified documents that Trump stored in his boxes included information on the defense capabilities and weapons of both the United States and other countries; United States nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities to military attacks by the United States and its allies; and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack.”

Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club was “not an authorized place” for the “storage, possession, review, display or discussion” of classified documents, the indictment says.

However, it goes on, the boxes of Trump documents they were stored in locations in the club including “a ballroom, a toilet and shower room, an office space, his bedroom, and a storage room.”

Access to unauthorized persons

On two occasions in 2021, the former president showed classified documents to others who did not have official authorization to review this type of material, including a writer and two staff members.

Dozens of boxes of supplies brought from the White House were stacked in a storage room at Mar-a-Lago.

At his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, he displayed and described a “plan of attack” that he said had been prepared for him by the Department of Defense.

“As president, I could have declassified it. Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret,” Trump allegedly said, according to an audio recording.

The second time the indictment states that Trump showed classified documents to others was “in August or September of 2021,” at the Bedminster Club.

The former US president “showed a classified map to a representative of his political action committee who did not have a security clearance for it.”

This map “related to a military operation” and Trump told the representative that he “shouldn’t show it to them” and that they “shouldn’t get too close.”

The indictment says Trump tried to obstruct the FBI’s investigation by suggesting that his lawyer “conceal or destroy” the documents or falsely tell investigators that he did not have them.

Trump’s personal assistant at Mar-a-Lago, Waltine Nauta, is also charged. The indictment says the former White House military valet moved the files to hide them from the FBI.

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Trump claims to be innocent. (Reuters).

Why Trump’s Impeachment Revelations Are So Damaging

Analysis by Anthony Zurcher, BBC North America correspondent

The indictment against Donald Trump on federal charges has been made public and the full scope of the case against the former president for mishandling classified documents is coming to light.

Trump has been charged with 37 counts of unauthorized possession of classified material, obstruction of justice, concealment of documents and making false statements to police.

Each of those charges carries penalties that include substantial fines and the possibility of years in prison.

Here are some of the key disclosures from the prosecution and why they could be damaging.

The documents included nuclear secrets.

Perhaps the most dramatic part of the indictment lists the types of documents Trump allegedly had at Mar-a-Lago. They include details of US nuclear weapons programs, potential vulnerabilities of the US and its allies, and US plans for retaliatory military strikes.

The indictment warns that “disclosure of these classified documents could jeopardize national security.” of the United States, foreign relations, the security of United States military and human resources, and the continued viability of sensitive intelligence-gathering methods.”

That’s an important claim, given that to prove charges that Trump violated the Espionage Act, prosecutors will have to show that Trump illegally possessed sensitive national defense information.

The details in the documents could also be damaging to Trump’s public image.

Republicans, including some of Trump’s presidential rivals, rushed to his defense Thursday when news of the impeachment broke.

While they may still disagree with what they see as impeachment, they may find it more difficult to explain why Trump latched on to such sensitive national security material after leaving the White House.

Source: Elcomercio