Donald Trump was indicted Friday in the Mar-a-Lago documents case.
Washington:
Former US President Donald Trump faces 37 charges in the Mar-a-Lago documents case, according to the unsealed indictment released Friday, with federal prosecutors accusing him of illegally keeping top secret files on US nuclear and defense programs.
The Justice Department said that when Trump left the White House in January 2021, he took with him highly classified files from the Pentagon, CIA, National Security Agency and other intelligence agencies.
Trump kept them unsecured at his Florida Mar-a-Lago residence and club, which regularly hosted large social events with tens of thousands of guests, according to the suit filed in Florida federal court.
And on at least two occasions, Trump showed classified documents about US military operations and plans to people who did not have permission to view them at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
The documents Trump took “contain information about defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries, United States nuclear programs; possible vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military strikes; and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack.”, the indictment said.
“The unauthorized disclosure of these secret documents could jeopardize the national security of the United States,” it said.
Trump was charged with 37 charges, including willful withholding of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, corruptly concealing documents and false statements.
The charges, filed by Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith, each carry up to 20 years in prison.
An aide to Trump, Walt Nauta, was charged with six counts of helping Trump conceal the documents.
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