Donald Trump took US nuclear secrets and kept classified files in shower, charges allege
Former US President Donald Trump faces 37 criminal charges it has been revealed after his indictment over mishandling classified documents was unsealed.
Criminal counts he faces include charges of unauthorised retention of classified documents and conspiracy to obstruct justice after leaving the White House in 2021.
It’s claimed he stored documents in “a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, an office space, his bedroom, and a storage room” at his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago.
Investigators seized roughly 13,000 documents from Mar-a-Lago nearly a year ago.
The document released on Friday marks the Justice Department’s first official confirmation of a criminal case against Mr Trump over the retention of hundreds of documents at the estate.
It comes as two lawyers representing Mr Trump resigned following his indictment.
Mr Trump, 76, announced he had been indicted in a Truth Social post on Thursday night. He is due to make a first court appearance in the case in a Miami court on Tuesday.
The unsealed indictment said Mr Trump described a Pentagon “plan of attack” and shared classified map related to a military operation.
The Government documents include some of the most sensitive US military secrets, including information on the country’s nuclear program and potential domestic vulnerabilities in the event of an attack.
According to the indictment, boxes of classified docs were stacked on the stage in a ballroom at Mar-a-Lago where ‘events and gatherings’ took place.
One document concerned a foreign country’s support of terrorism against US interests.
It is also claimed in the indictment that Mr Trump tried to obstruct y investigations into the retention of classified documents by suggesting that his attorney falsely represent to the FBI and grand jury that he did not have the documents being called for in a subpoena.
It is also claimed he suggested that his attorney hide or destroy documents.
The indictment outlined two circumstances in which Trump allegedly showed the documents to others, including one meeting with a writer at his Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where he described federal officials’ “plan of attack” against him and purportedly acknowledging that he knew the information “is still a secret.”
In a later meeting with a representative from his political action committee, Trump displayed “a classified map related to a military operation,” acknowledging he “should not be showing it to the representative and that the representative should not get too close,” prosecutors said.
“I AM AN INNOCENT MAN!”, Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Thursday after announcing he had been indicted.
Mr Trump has previously said he declassified those documents while president, but his attorneys have declined to make that argument in court filings.
One hundred of the files seized last year were marked as classified, even though one of Mr Trump’s lawyers had previously said all records with classified markings had been returned to the government.
(With agencies)
