2023-06-09 21:13:01
Trump, upon his arrival in April at his Mar-a-Lago mansion after appearing in court in Manhattan for the Stormy case. CRISTOBAL HERRERA-ULASHKEVICH | EFE
He makes history again by becoming the first former US president to be indicted for federal crimes. Next Tuesday he must appear before a court in Miami
09 jun 2023 . Updated at 9:13 p.m.
The legal problems of Donald Trump they add up and he makes history again, this time by becoming the first former president of the United States to be indicted for federal crimes. The former tenant of the White House faces 37 criminal charges for handling more than three hundred classified documents that he took to his Mar-a-Lago, Florida mansion, according to the indictment released this Friday by the Department of Justice. The 37 federal crimes include illegal retention of government secrets (a violation of espionage law), obstruction of justice y conspiracywhich carry lengthy prison terms.
The 49-page federal indictment charges the same charges against Waltin Nauta, Trump aide and who was seen removing boxes of classified documents from the Palm Beach mansion. The accusation, as announced by Trump himself, summons him to appear next Tuesday before the Federal District Court of Miami for the reading of the charges.
From his residence in Bedminster (New Jersey), where he spends his holidays playing golf, the former president advanced Thursday night, through his Truth Social social network, that his legal team had informed him of his imminent “indictment” for the “bullet of the boxes”. The re-election candidate compared his case with that of the president, Joe Bien, who is facing an investigation with certain similarities to that of the former president. “I am an innocent man”he affirmed.
The indictment marks the first time a former White House tenant has been charged with committing a federal crime. It is not, however, the first time that Trump has made judicial history in the United States. Your imputation last March in a Manhattan court for irregular payments to silence a sexual encounter with the porn actress Stormy Daniels, has already made the tycoon the first former president to face criminal offences.
Given the signs from the prosecution that they were preparing to present a new indictment, Trump stated days ago that everything was in response to a conspiracy to interfere in elections. The narrative promoted by the former president – and amplified by his supporters and a considerable portion of the Republican Party – defends that his legal problems are not motivated by the commission of crimes but by a “witch hunt” promoted by the Biden Administration. .
Trump has also defended that it is impossible for him to be charged for having confidential documents in his possession since one of the prerogatives of presidents is to declassify said documents.
Admission in an audio
On Friday morning, CNN claimed to have obtained the transcript of an audio in which Trump acknowledged that he was in possession of undisclosed secret military information. “When she was president, she could have declassified it, but now I can’t,” he is heard saying, over a text that would speak of a Pentagon document. referring to an attack on Iran.
If the charges against him are confirmed, the conviction could lead to a joint sentence of more than a hundred years in prison. Some of them, such as those who fall under anti-espionage legislation, would be subject to sentences of up to 20 years in prison.
Republicans believe that the problem is not the former president, but Justice
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After the second accusation of Donald Trump became known, the reaction of the bulk of Republican politicians has been to assume his version as true and to attack the judicial system. According to conservative leaders, the Democrats use Justice as a weapon against Trump. A claim they make without, to date, any accompanying evidence.
So, Kevin McCarthy, leader of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, said that Thursday was “a dark day” for the United States. One of the policies that owes the most to Donald Trump, the congresswoman from Georgia Marjorie Taylor Greene, He went further and stated that “Democrats are arresting their political enemies.”
Rivals in the primaries
Even those with the most to gain from Trump’s legal troubles, his primary rivals, were closing ranks around the former president’s narrative. After learning that Trump would be charged, the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, affirmed that the use of Justice as a weapon “represents a mortal danger for a free society”. For DeSantis, the indictment would be one more example of the “unequal application of the law based on political affiliation.” And he added that “the DeSantis Administration” would hold the Justice Department “to account.”
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