Donald Trump Indictment Unsealed In Classified Documents Case: Read 37-Charge Filing Here

Donald Trump Indictment Unsealed In Classified Documents Case: Read 37-Charge Filing Here

The just unsealed indictment of Donald Trump over classified documents alleges that the former president “put at risk the national security of the United States”

Looking at over 20 years in prison and millions in fine if found guilty on the 37-counts, current White House candidate Trump is facing claims from the feds that he blatantly lied about his use of the top-secret material in an effort to “obstruct the FBI and grand jury investigations.”

Read the full unsealed Trump indictment here

One of the most surprising aspects of the indictment was the number of documents kept at Mar-a-Lago that were at the highest level of secret classification. The documents contained details of various military activities and top-level plans, including a potential “plans for a possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack.”

“The classified documents Trump stored in his boxes included information regarding 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,” federal prosecutors wrote.

The indictment against Trump and his valet Waltine Nauta comes as the main defendant lost members of his defense team Friday.

The DOJ have scheduled a press conference on the case set for Noon PT. Neither Trump not the White House have commented on the unsealed indictment yet.

Still, in the context of the recent revelations, that upcoming DOJ press conference may spotlight Trump supposedly telling his lawyers and Mar-a-Lago aides last year that he didn’t “want anybody looking through my boxes. After receiving a subpoena over the matter, he added: “Wouldn’t it be better if we just told them we don’t have anything here?”

Making matter worse for the usually Teflon Don, with the indictment first revealed yesterday, the now unsealed document points out two instances where Trump showed documents to those who did not have security clearances. A 2021 meeting at the former Celebrity Apprentice host’s Bedminster, NJ residence details Trump showing Defense Department paperwork to a visitor in full knowledge he shouldn’t be doing so or having the documents in his possession.

“Trump also said ‘as president I could have declassified it,’ and ‘Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret,’” the indictment states.

As expected, cable news exploded with news of the unsealing this morning.

As outlets scrambled to assess the indictment, CNN’s Dana Bash read out the opening paragraphs out loud live at 10:45 a.m. PT. The network quickly aired photos from the indictment, showing boxes stored haphazardly around Mar-a-Lago, in one instance a shot of an overturned box with documents spilled onto the floor. On CNBC and the BBC, correspondents reported on the contents of the indictment in real time. MAGA friendly Fox News had a lower third that read “DOJ Unseals Trump Classified Documents” as former George W. Bush press secretary and consistent Trump apologist Ari Fleischer threw some rare shade and acknowledged “there is a sloppiness here” when it comes to the ex-reality TV host’s maintenance  of top secret materials.

With more from Special Counsel Jack Smith expected soon, all the cable newsers, including the Rupert Murdoch-owned FNC, became all Trump, all the time with the truly historic turn of criminal events against the one-term Commander-in-chief.

In the typical topsy-turvy fashion of all things out of Trumpland, it was Trump himself on June 8 who first unveiled on Truth Social, his social media platform, that the Justice Department informed his attorneys that he had been indicated. Already facing a plethora of litigation, including a Manhattan case involving payoffs to porn star Stormy Daniels, the former and perhaps future POTUS has been summoned to appear at the federal courthouse in Miami on June 13 in what will surely be a media and political circus

Ted Johnson contributed to this report