The indictment against former President Donald Trump was unsealed on Friday, a day after Trump announced that he had been indicted in a social media post.
The 49-page indictment can be read here. The document charges Trump on 37 counts, with 31 of those being the willful retention of national defense information. Other counts include conspiracy to obstruct justice, corruptly concealing documents or records, and making false statements.
The indictment alleged that Trump improperly removed classified records from the White House in January 2021. Those classified documents contained sensitive 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.”
The former president showed sensitive documents to others on two occasions, according to the indictment. In July 2021, Trump described a “plan of attack” prepared by the Department of Defense. Trump showed the plan “during an audio-recorded meeting with a writer, a publisher, and two members of his staff, none of whom possessed a security clearance.”
“As president, I could have declassified it,” Trump said, according to the indictment. “Now, I can’t, but, you know, this is still a secret.”
In another incident in August or September 2021, Trump showed a representative for his political action committee a “classified map related to a military operation.” He told the representative that he should not be showing the map, according to the indictment.
The indictment also names Trump aide Walt Nauta, charging him with six counts alongside the former president. The charges against Nauta include conspiracy to obstruct justice, corruptly concealing a document or record, scheming to conceal, and making a false statement.
Trump reacted to the charges against Nauta in a post on Truth Social on Friday morning.
“I have just learned that the ‘Thugs’ from the Department of Injustice will be Indicting a wonderful man, Walt Nauta, a member of the U.S. Navy, who served proudly with me in the White House, retired as Senior Chief, and then transitioned into private life as a personal aide,” Trump wrote. “He has done a fantastic job! They are trying to destroy his life, like the lives of so many others, hoping that he will say bad things about ‘Trump.’ He is strong, brave, and a Great Patriot. The FBI and DOJ are CORRUPT!”
Trump announced his indictment on Thursday evening in a post on Truth Social. He said he has been scheduled to appear at a federal courthouse in Miami next week.
“The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been Indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax, even though Joe Biden has 1850 Boxes at the University of Delaware, additional Boxes in Chinatown, D.C., with even more Boxes at the University of Pennsylvania, and documents strewn all over his garage floor where he parks his Corvette, and which is ‘secured’ by only a garage door that is paper thin, and open much of the time,” he said.
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“I have been summoned to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday, at 3 PM. I never thought it possible that such a thing could happen to a former President of the United States, who received far more votes than any sitting President in the History of our Country, and is currently leading, by far, all Candidates, both Democrat and Republican, in Polls of the 2024 Presidential Election. I AM AN INNOCENT MAN!” he added.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
