2023-06-13 17:38:00
promoters of USA who accused Donald Trump used the words of the very former American presidentas well as notes from his lawyers, to build the case against the republican in court.
The 49-page document unveiled last week accuses Trump of putting national security at risk by keeping top-secret documents on nuclear and defense matters in his custody after leaving the White House.
The charge made by special counsel Jack Smith relies heavily on statements by Trump himself to build the legal case against the 45th president of the United States.
It recounts the time Trump described the Pentagon’s “plan of attack” on a rival country to a writer, an editor, and two members of his staff, even though none of them had security clearance to receive such information.
Allegedly, during a meeting that was audiotaped at his golf club in New Jersey, Trump allegedly stated that the plan was “highly confidential” and “secret,” according to the indictment.
Trump is quoted as telling them, “as president I could have ‘disqualified’ him” and “now I can’t, you know, but that remains a secret”.
The target of the attack is identified in the indictment only as “Country A”. According to the American press, the nation involved was Iran.
The indictment also uses Trump’s own words to establish that he was aware — even before he won the 2016 presidential election — of the importance of protecting secret information.
“In my administration, I will enforce all laws regarding the protection of confidential information”, said the then-Republican candidate in August 2016. “No one will be above the law”.
And as president, the indictment points out, Trump issued a statement in July 2018 emphasizing his “unique, constitutional responsibility to protect the nation’s sensitive information.”
‘Don’t play ball’
The indictment also mentions meetings between Trump and two of his attorneys — identified as Attorney 1 and Attorney 2 — to implicate him in an effort to mislead investigators seeking to recover documents taken from the White House and taken to Trump’s residence in Mar. -a-Lago, Florida.
According to notes taken by Attorney 1 during a meeting where they discussed how to respond to the May 2022 grand jury subpoena, Trump said, “What if we just don’t respond at all, or what if we don’t play ball with them?”
“I don’t want anybody going through my boxes, I really don’t,” Trump reportedly said. “Wouldn’t it be better to say we have nothing here?”
Dozens of boxes with documents marked Top Secret, Secret and Confidential were hidden at Mar-a-Lago in places including a ballroom, a bathroom, a storage room and Trump’s bedroom.
According to the indictment, they were transferred on Trump’s orders and handled by the former president’s personal assistant, Walt Nauta, a US Navy veteran who also faces charges as a co-conspirator.
The first former US president to face federal charges, Trump is charged with “deliberately withholding national defense information”, which could carry more than 10 years in prison, and conspiracy to obstruct justice, perjury and other crimes.
Trump, 76, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election, will make his first appearance in federal court in Miami on Tuesday.
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