WASHINGTON: The unprecedented case against the former president was developed by US prosecutors who indicted Donald Trump using the former president’s remarks and notes made by his attorneys.
Trump is charged with harming US national security by keeping top-secret nuclear and defense documents after leaving the White House, according to the 49-page indictment released last week. Trump’s words are prominently used in the indictment from special counsel Jack Smith to support the prosecution’s case.
It describes one case in which Trump spoke to a writer, publisher, and two staff members without security clearances about a Pentagon “plan of attack” on a US adversary country. The indictment claims that the proposal was allegedly described as “highly confidential” and “secret” by Trump during the audio-recorded discussion at his golf club in New Jersey.
According to a quote from Trump, he told them, “As president, I could have declassified it” and, “Now I can’t, you know, but this is still secret.” The indictment solely names “Country A” as the intended attack victim. Iran was the engaged country, according to US media. Trump’s statements are also used in the indictment to show that he was aware of the significance of protecting confidential material even before he was elected president in 2016.
In August 2016, the Republican contender pledged, “In my administration, I’m going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information.” There will be “no one above the law.” The indictment further states that in July 2018, Trump emphasized his “unique, constitutional responsibility to protect the Nation’s classified information.”
Case details
The indictment also details conversations between Trump and two of his attorneys, Attorneys 1 and 2, to prove that he misled investigators when they asked for documents stolen from the White House and delivered to Trump’s Florida estate Mar-a-Lago. In a meeting to consider how to answer a grand jury subpoena issued in May 2022, Trump reportedly said: “What happens if we don’t respond or play ball with them?
“I don’t want anybody looking through my boxes, I don’t,” Trump reportedly said. “Wouldn’t it be better to tell them we have nothing here?”
The numerous boxes with documents marked Top Secret, Secret, and Confidential were hidden at Mar-a-Lago in places like the ballroom, the restroom, the storage room, and Trump’s bedroom. According to the indictment, Walt Nauta, the former president’s assistant and a US Navy veteran charged as a co-conspirator, allegedly moved them around at Trump’s request.
Trump is the first former US president to be charged with a federal crime. He is accused of making false statements, conspiring to obstruct justice, and “willful retention of national defense information,” which carries a maximum 10-year jail sentence. The 76-year-old Trump, the current front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, will make his initial court appearance on Tuesday in Miami.
— APP
