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 defenses, and plans to respond to a foreign attack, federal prosecutors charged 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 filed in Miami federal court Thursday.
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 Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Weeks later, the indictment alleges, 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 Trump’s retention of official documents at his Palm Beach club. A personal aide to Trump, Walt Nauta, was hit with an additional charge of making false statements to federal investigators.
The first-ever federal case filed against a sitting or former president includes 31 counts of willful retention of national defense 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.
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 is a developing story.
(Culled from New York Post)
