Jump to content

Federal prosecution of Donald Trump (classified documents case)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Soibangla (talk | contribs) at 22:09, 9 June 2023 (→‎Proceedings: does not mention United States nuclear programs). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article is about the criminal prosecution. For the civil case, see Trump v. United States.

United States v. Trump
CourtUnited States District Court for the Southern District of Florida
Full case nameUnited States of America v. Donald J. Trump
This article is part of
a series about
Donald Trump
Business and personal
45th President of the United States
Tenure
Policies
Appointments
Presidential campaigns
Impeachments
Prosecutions
Interactions involving Russia
COVID-19 pandemic

Donald Trump's signature

Seal of the President of the United States
Donald Trump's handling
of government documents
Classified intelligence material found during the FBI's search of Mar-a-Lago
Criminal laws and handling of government documents
Related groups and persons
Investigations
Events
Reactions

United States v. Donald J. Trump is a pending federal criminal case against former president Donald Trump.[1] The thirty-seven count grand jury indictment about Trump's handling of government documents after his presidency was filed on June 8, 2023, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, based in Miami, by the office of the Smith special counsel investigation.[2][3] Thirty-one of the counts fell under the Espionage Act.[4]

Background

See also: FBI investigation into Donald Trump's handling of government documents, Smith special counsel investigation, and FBI search of Mar-a-Lago

Under the Presidential Records Act, presidential documents must be transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) by the end of a president's term. Trump's term ended in January 2021, and in May 2021, NARA became aware of missing documents from the Trump Administration and began an effort to retrieve documents incorrectly taken to Trump's residence at Mar-a-Lago.[5]

After negotiations with Trump's team, NARA retrieved 15 boxes of documents in January 2022. NARA discovered that the boxes contained classified material, and notified the Justice Department, leading to the FBI investigation into Donald Trump's handling of government documents beginning in April 2022.[6] In May 2022, the FBI issued a subpoena for any remaining documents in Trump's possession, and Trump certified that he was returning all the remaining documents on June 3, 2022. The FBI obtained evidence that Trump had not fulfilled the subpoena and still possessed additional documents, and may have moved documents after the subpoena was issued.[7]

This led to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago on August 8, 2022, in which the FBI recovered over 13,000 government documents, 325 of which were classified.[7] The case Trump v. United States arose from the search, which briefly led to the appointment of a special master to review seized materials before the appointment was overturned.

In November 2022, the FBI investigation was taken over by a special counsel investigation, under the direction of Jack Smith, a special counsel appointed by United States Attorney General Merrick Garland.[8]

False statements

See also: Veracity of statements by Donald Trump § FBI search of Mar-a-Lago

Trump has been charged with making false statements, and over time he has made many false, misleading, unsubstantiated, and contradictory claims about the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. Among his many statements, Trump suggested, without evidence, that President Biden played a role in the search, the FBI planted evidence, the search was unnecessary, and the classified documents in his possession were already declassified. He stated that as a US president, he was not required to follow the prescribed legal process, but could simply declassify them just "by thinking about it",[9][10][11][12] and "because you're sending it, to Mar-a-Lago or wherever you're sending it... it's declassified. I declassified everything."[9][13][14][15]

Proceedings

Indictment of Donald J. Trump and Waltine Nauta

The grand jury handed up the indictment under seal on June 8, 2023. Its 37 counts against Trump include willfully retaining national defense information in violation of the Espionage Act; making false statements; obstruction of justice; and conspiracy.[16][3][17]

The charges were:[18]

  • 31 charges of retaining and failing to deliver national defense documents, with Trump as defendant
    • Each of these charges is a separate document; according to the indictment, they included documentation of US nuclear weapons; foreign military attacks, plans, capabilities, and effects on US interests; foreign nuclear capabilities; foreign support for terrorist activity; communications with foreign leaders, attacks by foreign countries; US military activities; and White House daily foreign intelligence briefings.
  • 5 charges relating to withholding and concealing the documents, with Trump and Waltine Nauta as co-defendants
  • 2 charges of making false statements, one each for Trump and Nauta

The indictment alleged the classified documents Trump retained included information about:

defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries; United States nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack; and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack.[19]

The indictment includes transcripts of audio recording it says are of Trump showing a classified US military attack plan (the name of the target country is redacted) to a book publisher, writer, and two staff members in July 2021, while saying he was unable to declassify the document any longer. News reports said the target country was Iran, and Trump was showing it in the context of complaining that General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had unfairly portrayed him to the media.[20]

The indictment also alleges that in fall 2021, Trump showed a classified military map to a representative of his political action committee who did not have a security clearance. It further charges that Trump took steps to keep classified documents he knew he could not because they had been subpoenaed.[21]

The arraignment was scheduled for June 13.[3][1]

Trump attorneys Jim Trusty and John Rowley resigned on the day after the indictment. Trump said he would be represented by Todd Blanche, a former assistant US attorney in the Manhattan federal prosecutor's office who was also representing Trump in his prosecution by the Manhattan district attorney.[22]

Commentary and responses

Many congressional Republicans responded to the indictment by asserting, without evidence, that Trump was being targeted[23] by a "weaponized" or politicized Justice Department.[24][25][26] These Republican reactions echoed their similar reactions to Trump's first indictment, in New York state court.[27] Trump himself made such claims both before[28] and after his federal indictment.[26] Trump allies who rallied around the ex-president after the indictment included the House Republican leadership (Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik), as well as Senator J. D. Vance.[24] However, most members of the Senate Republican leadership team, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Whip John Thune, stayed silent on the indictment.[24]

Among critics of Trump within the Republican Party, former U.S. Representative Adam Kinzinger, wrote: "Today, Justice is being served. Nobody is above the law. The former President will get a fair trial. The former President will be held accountable."[29] Republican Presidential candidate and former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson put out a statement saying that Trump should withdraw from the presidential race.[30]

References

  1. ^ a b "Donald Trump charged in handling of classified documents". United Press International. June 8, 2023. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  2. ^ Tierney Sneed; Holmes Lybrand (June 9, 2023). "Trump faces a total of 37 counts in federal indictment". CNN.
  3. ^ a b c Barrett, Devlin; Stein, Perry; Dawsey, Josh (June 8, 2023). "Trump indicted in Mar-a-Lago classified documents investigation". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on June 8, 2023. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  4. ^ Kyle Cheney; Josh Gerstein (June 9, 2023). "Trump indictment unsealed". Politico.
  5. ^ Broadwater, Luke; Benner, Katie; Haberman, Maggie (August 27, 2022). "Inside the 20-Month Drive to Get Trump to Return Presidential Material". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  6. ^ Montague, Zach; McCarthy, Lauren (August 9, 2022). "The Timeline Related to the F.B.I.'s Search of Mar-a-Lago". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  7. ^ a b Smart, Charlie; Buchanan, Larry (September 3, 2022). "What the F.B.I. Seized From Mar-a-Lago, Illustrated". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  8. ^ Thrush, Glenn; Savage, Charlie; Haberman, Maggie; Feuer, Alan (November 18, 2022). "Special Counsel for Trump Investigations: Garland Names Special Counsel for Trump Inquiries". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  9. ^ a b Pengelly, Martin (September 22, 2022). "Trump claims presidents can declassify documents 'by thinking about it'". The Guardian. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  10. ^ Mazza, Ed (September 21, 2022). "Telepathy? Trump Claims He Could Declassify Documents 'By Thinking About It'". Huffpost. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
  11. ^ Anthony, Carl (September 22, 2022). "'That's Not How It Works': Legal Experts React To Trump's Claim That He Can Declassify Top Secret Docs With His Mind". Daily Boulder. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
  12. ^ Thompson, Stuart A (August 16, 2022). "A Timeline of Trump's False and Misleading Statements on the Mar-a-Lago Search. The former president has pushed frenetic and sometimes contradictory claims about the F.B.I.'s search of his Florida home". The New York Times. Retrieved August 19, 2022. [His] statements reflect the strategy Mr. Trump has long used to address controversy, by turns denying any wrongdoing while directing attention elsewhere. Some of the messages also reflect his penchant for false and misleading claims.
  13. ^ Summer, Mark (September 21, 2022). "Donald Trump claims he declassified documents 'by thinking about it,' but that's not the worst thing". Daily Kos. Retrieved September 24, 2022.
  14. ^ Dale, Daniel (June 9, 2023). "Fact check: Seven of Trump's false or unsupported claims on the documents investigation". CNN. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  15. ^ Sherman, Amy (June 7, 2023). "9 Trump claims about the Mar-a-Lago classified documents probe, fact-checked". PolitiFact. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  16. ^ Tierney Sneed; Holmes Lybrand (June 9, 2023). "Trump faces a total of 37 counts in federal indictment". CNN.
  17. ^ Faulders, Katherine (June 8, 2023). "Donald Trump indicted for 2nd time, in classified documents investigation". ABC News. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  18. ^ "Read: Trump indictment related to mishandling of classified documents". CNN. June 9, 2023. Retrieved June 9, 2023. {{cite web}}: Cite uses deprecated parameter |authors= (help)
  19. ^ John Santucci; Ivan Pereira (June 9, 2023). "Sweeping 37-count indictment alleges Trump hoarded national secrets, orchestrated obstruction of investigation". ABC News.
  20. ^ Paula Reid; Jeremy Herb (June 9, 2023). "Exclusive: Donald Trump admits on tape he didn't declassify 'secret information'".
  21. ^ Lowell, Hugo (June 9, 2023). "Indictment charging Trump with mishandling classified documents unsealed". The Guardian.
  22. ^ Dan Mangan; Kevin Breuninger (June 9, 2023). "Trump lawyers quit classified documents case". CNBC.
  23. ^ Alfaro, Mariana (June 8, 2023). "Biden says Americans can trust Justice Department as it investigates Trump". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on June 8, 2023. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  24. ^ a b c Scott Wong, Trump allies say Biden is 'weaponizing' DOJ against his chief 2024 rival following indictment, NBC News (June 8, 2023).
  25. ^ Alfaro, Mariana (June 8, 2022). "Live Updates: Trump indicted in classified documents case". The Washington Post. many Republicans have without evidence accused the Biden administration of weaponizing the Justice Department against former president Donald Trump
  26. ^ a b Alfaro, Mariana (June 8, 2023). "I'm an innocent man. We will prove that again,' Trump says". The Washington Post. Trump claimed that he is an 'innocent man' and accused the Justice Department without evidence of running 'election interference' against him.
  27. ^ Lewis, Kaitlin (June 8, 2023). "MAGA Republicans react to Trump's classified documents indictment". Newsweek. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  28. ^ Schmidt, Michael S.; Haberman, Maggie (March 29, 2023). "Trump Says the Justice System Has Been Weaponized. He Would Know". The New York Times.
  29. ^ Swearingen, Jake; Teh, Cheryl (June 9, 2023). "'Nobody is above the law': The world reacts to Trump being indicted for the second time". Business Insider.
  30. ^ Turbeville, Ryan (June 8, 2023). "Hutchinson weighs in on Trump federal indictment, says former president should end run for White House". Retrieved June 9, 2023.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Federal_prosecution_of_Donald_Trump_(classified_documents_case)&oldid=1159371099"