Donald Trump has been charged with 37 counts in an indictment alleging he
illegally held on to military secrets,
shared them with others and schemed to mislead the FBI.
This marks the first time in history that the US government has brought federal charges against a
former president as far as the joke of an indictment.
It's a horrible thing.
Here's a breakdown of the charges and the potential consequences.
Trump faces federal prosecutors led by special counsel Jack
Smith unsealed a 49 page indictment on June nine.
We have one set of laws in this country and they apply to everyone.
The indictment alleges the former president unlawfully retained classified documents that
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.
It lays out 37 counts on seven different charges for counts one through
31.
The justice department breaks down how each count ties to a specific
document retained at Trump's Mar a Lago resort from number one.
It's a document from May 3rd 2018 concerning a White House intelligence briefing
related to various foreign countries.
You go down to the 31st block in this chart and it's a
document dated February 2017 concerning the military activity of a foreign country.
The remaining six counts all relate to Trump's alleged mishandling of documents as
prosecutors claim Trump and his staff misled Trump's lawyers including Evan
Corcoran into believing that a diligent search was conducted of the boxes that were
moved from the White House to Florida.
And what the indictment details is this allegation that in early June of last
year,
Evan Corcoran came down to Mar A Lago planning to essentially comb through these
boxes.
And not long before he shows up,
Trump gives Walt Nada this personal aid of his this direction to remove
boxes from the storage room and take them up to his residence.
Neither Trump nor Walt Nata mentioned all this movement to Evan Corcoran when he
shows up in early June and goes through these documents calls the FBI and says
come down and pick these up according to the indictment,
Trump endeavored to obstruct the FBI and grand jury investigations about his
continued possession of national security records.
And that's really the point they're trying to make here that Donald Trump held on to
sensitive material that was marked secret.
Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in the handling of documents at Mar A
lago when it comes to your documents.
Did you ever show those classified documents to anyone?
Not really I would have the right to,
by the way,
they were declassified after not that I can think of.
Let me just tell you I have the absolute right to do whatever I want with them.
Prosecutors paint a different picture in the indictment.
It states an audio recording of Trump indicates he showed what he
described as a highly confidential department of defense document to people
without a security clearance.
Trump said as president could have declassified it and now I
can't,
you know,
but this is still secret according to the indictment,
the importance of that meeting and the recording of it is that
Trump demonstrates a little bit of mindfulness here that his retention
is not appropriate.
So that shows a really a key pillar of any kind of criminal case which is
knowledge and intent,
that knowledge that what you're doing is wrong and potentially runs afoul of the
law on June 8th.
Trump announced on his social media platform,
truth social that he was being indicted and declared his innocence and they come
after Donald Trump weaponizing the justice
department,
weaponizing the FBI.
We can't let this continue to go on for each count.
Trump could receive a maximum $250,000 fine and prison
terms ranging from five years to 20 years.
But even if tried and convicted,
he is unlikely to receive the top penalties.
But the reality of federal cases is that the statutory maximums are really never
what are imposed in cases,
it's often a fraction of them.
Nonetheless,
Trump does face the potential here of a prison sentence of a fine.
The indictment assures that Trump's legal trouble will be the focal point of the Republican
presidential primary contest.
It is a sad day for America to see a former president of the United
States indicted by the administration
of a sitting president who is also a potential rival in
the upcoming election.
Trump said he had been summoned to appear at the federal courthouse in Miami on June
13.
My office will seek a speedy trial in this matter consistent with the public
interest and the rights of the accused.