Donald Trump has been indicted over his refusal to return classified documents found at his Florida home, the first time a former president has faced federal allegations of criminal conduct.
Trump faces seven charges including willful retention of national defense information, corruptly concealing documents, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and making false statements, according to the indictment unsealed in federal court in Miami.
The indictment recounts evidence that Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team has gathered from witnesses and other sources in the two-year effort to figure out what government documents went with the former president when he left the White House — and whether any crimes were committed.
The unprecedented FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home on Aug. 8, 2022, came after National Archives officials spent months trying to claw back records still in his possession. During the search, agents removed 27 boxes and several other document collections containing 11 sets of classified materials.
The documents in his boxes included “information regarding defense and weapons capabilities” of the US and foreign countries, US nuclear programs, “potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack” and “plans for possible retaliation in response to foreign attack.”
“The unauthorized disclosure of these classified documents could put at risk the national security of the United States,” according to the indictment. “Trump was not authorized to possess or retain those classified documents.”
Waltine “Walt” Nauta, a former military valet who followed Trump from the White House to become his personal aide at Mar-a-Lago, also has been indicted on charges in connection with the conspiracy. The indictment said Nauta was directed by Trump to “move boxes of documents to conceal them from Trump’s attorney, the FBI and the grand jury.”
“Trump was personally involved in this process. Trump caused his boxes, containing hundreds of classified documents, to be transported from the White House to the Mar-a-Lago Club,” the indictment says.
In July 2021 at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, during an audio recorded meeting with a writer, a publisher, and two member of his staff, none of whom possessed a security clearance, Trump showed and described a “plan of attack” against an unnamed foreign country that he said was prepared for him by the Department of Defense and a senior military official.
Trump said as president he could have declassified the document he was showing to others. “See as president I could have declassified it,” Trump said, according to a transcript in the indictment. “Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”
The documents found were from at least seven government agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, National Security Agency, Department of Energy and more, according to the indictment.
Trump maintained his innocence in a Thursday night post on his Truth Social platform and said that he’s been summoned to appear at the federal courthouse in Miami on Tuesday.
“I never thought it possible that such a thing could happen to a former President of the United States,” he wrote. “I am an innocent man!”
Trump’s campaign filing in November to run again for president in 2024 prompted Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint Smith as special counsel that month. As Smith settled in, the first half of 2023 saw a procession of grand jury witnesses, sealed subpoena fights and shakeups on Trump’s legal defense team.
Author: Chris Strohm, Zoe Tillman and Emily Birnbaum
