Federal indictment against former President Donald Trump unsealed
Pictures from US authorities allegedly show official papers, including nuclear secrets, all over Donald Trump’s resort - including in a toilet.
World
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Former President Donald Trump unlawfully kept hundreds of classified government documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after leaving office — including papers detailing America’s conventional and nuclear weapons programs, potential weak points in US defences, and plans to respond to a foreign attack, US prosecutors said on Friday.
The 45th president stored boxes containing the documents throughout his property, including “a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, an office space, his bedroom, and a storage room,” according to a 49-page indictment which was unsealed in a Miami federal court Thursday, reports the New York Post.
Images released by the Justice Department are alleged to show secret papers in boxes stacked up at the Florida resort including on the stage of a ballroom. Other images show piles of boxes in a bathroom next to the toilet.
Public events occurred at Mar-a-Lago during the time papers were stored there, it's alleged.
The first-ever federal case filed against a sitting or former president includes 37 counts of wilful retention of national defence information, one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, one count of withholding a document or record, one count of corruptly concealing a document or record, one count of concealing a document in a federal investigation, one count of scheming to conceal a document or record and one count of making false statements.
Mr Trump is due to face a Miami court in Tuesday to be formally charged.
Nuclear weapons information
The indictment accuses Mr Trump of hiding documents relating to US nuclear weapons and plans of potential retaliatory military strikes.
Prosecutors have said the documents “could put at risk the national security of the United States”.
The documents show Mr Trump also wasn’t shy about showing off the material, according to prosecutors, who cited a recorded July 2021 meeting at which the ex-president reportedly displayed a “plan of attack” against Iran prepared by General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Weeks later, the indictment alleges, Mr Trump showed a representative of his political action committee a “classified map related to a military operation” — admonishing the person not to get too close and admitting he shouldn’t be showing it off.
The 37-count indictment against Trump was unsealed hours after the 76-year-old announced he had been charged by Jack Smith, the special counsel tapped in November to examine Mr Trump’s retention of official documents at his Palm Beach club.
A personal aide to Trump, Walt Nauta, was hit with one count each of conspiracy, withholding, corruptly concealing, concealing, scheming to conceal and making false statements to federal investigators.
This article appeared in the New York Post and is reproduced with permission.
Originally published as Federal indictment against former President Donald Trump unsealed
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