WASHINGTON (AFP) – Federal prosecutors unsealed a wide-ranging indictment of Donald Trump on Friday, accusing the former United States (US) president of endangering national security by holding on to top secret nuclear and defence documents after leaving the White House.
The 76-year-old Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, took hundreds of classified government documents in cardboard boxes to his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, the 49-page charge sheet said.
Trump kept the files – which included records from the Pentagon, CIA and National Security Agency – unsecured at Mar-a-Lago, which regularly hosted large social events, the indictment said.
On at least two occasions, Trump showed classified documents on US military operations and plans to people not cleared to see them at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club, it said.
Trump faces 37 separate counts in the indictment including 31 counts of “willful retention of national defence information” relating to specific documents. A conviction on each count carries up to 10 years in prison.
“We have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone,” said Special Counsel Jack Smith, who brought the historic indictment against Trump, the first former US president ever to face federal criminal charges.
“Laws that protect national defence information are critical to the safety and security of the US and they must be enforced,” Smith said, adding that he would seek to ensure that Trump receives a “speedy trial”.
Other charges facing the twice-impeached Trump include conspiracy to obstruct justice, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, withholding a document or record, which also carries a potential 20-year sentence, and making false statements.
Trump’s personal aide, Walt Nauta, was named as a co-conspirator, charged with six counts for helping Trump hide documents, which were kept at various locations in Mar-a-Lago, according to the indictment, including a ballroom, a bathroom, Trump’s bedroom and a storage room.
“The classified documents Trump stored in the boxes included information regarding defence and weapons capabilities of both the US and foreign countries,” the indictment said.
Other records dealt with US nuclear programmes and potential vulnerabilities of the US and its allies to military attack along with plans for retaliation, it said.
“The unauthorised disclosure of these classified documents could put at risk the national security of the US, foreign relations, the safety of the US military, and human sources,” according to the indictment.
According to US media, the case will initially be handled by a Trump-appointed judge Aileen Cannon who made rulings favourable to the former president during a court review of documents seized in an August 2022 FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago.
