2023-06-09 02:50:51
Donald Trump’s legal troubles are piling up. On Thursday, the former US president announced sur Truth Social that the Justice Department had told his attorneys that he had been charged in the case of classified documents. Accused of unlawfully retaining sensitive documents from his presidency after leaving the White House, Donald Trump says he was summoned to federal court in Miami next Tuesday, probably for the reading of the indictment.
His indictment has not yet been confirmed by the Department of Justice, but one of his lawyers told NBC that seven charges had been brought against Donald Trump. According to New York Timeshe would have been charged in particular with “voluntary withholding of documents” “false declarations” and for a “conspiracy to obstruct”, which implies that at least one other person is involved.
During the search of his residence in Mar-a-Lago, the FBI had accused him of having violated the “Espionage Act”, a law prohibiting anyone from keeping classified documents, and even more in places not secured.
“I am an innocent man,” reacted Donald Trump in a four-minute video. He denounces in bulk a “hoax” and “interference” with the presidential election of 2024.
Des documents ultrasensibles
The series of documents lasted more than two years. According to a 1978 law, an American president is obliged to turn over to the National Archives all the documents of his presidency at the end of his mandate. The Archives first bang on the table in mid-2021, and Donald Trump returns 15 boxes containing 184 confidential documents in January 2022.
His lawyers then certify that there are no others at Mar-a-Lago. But the FBI, based on information from one source, does not believe them. Officers lead a spectacular search on August 8, 2022 and found 103 new classified documents, some of which were marked “top secret”.
Trump incriminated by a recording?
According to Washington Post, the most sensitive concerned the defensive nuclear capabilities of a foreign country. In the inventory of justice, a document containing information on the “president of France” is listed, but it is not known what it is.
According to CNN, the justice has a recording in which Donald Trump would admit to having taken away documents from the Pentagon linked to Iran. Which could help prosecutors prove that he “voluntarily and knowingly” kept these ultra-sensitive files.
Donald Trump’s legal troubles could give ammunition to his Republican primary opponents, including to Ron DeSantis. But at more than 50% in the polls, Donald Trump is largely in the lead, and even a possible prison sentence could not prevent him from running. Some experts even believe that he could, in theory, run the country from a cell. But for national security lawyer Bradley Moss, the United States would then find itself “in crazy constitutional waters”.
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