Improper Document Storage: US Attorney’s Office Accuses Trump

Washington, June 10 – The US Attorney General’s Office alleges that former President Donald Trump stored information about the country’s military capabilities, plans and vulnerabilities in an unsuitable private residence, where tens of thousands of guests visited, and in two cases he himself revealed state secrets to outsiders.

Trump, who maintains his innocence, faces 37 counts with a total sentence of up to 400 years in prison.

The secret documents that Trump kept in his boxes included information about the capabilities of the United States and foreign countries in defense and weapons, the American nuclear programs, the potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to a military attack, and plans for possible responses in the event of an attack from abroad.

“The unauthorized disclosure of these classified documents could harm US national security, international relations, the security of the US military, human resources, and the vulnerability of sensitive intelligence-gathering methods,” the indictment said.

Trump has been arraigned in federal court in Miami on Tuesday, where he is expected to have a formal reading of the charges against him with an opportunity to respond to them, a preemptive measure and a schedule of further hearings.

Boxes with materials of varying degrees of confidentiality belonging to the highest FBI agents were found at Trump’s residence on the territory of the Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. According to the investigative materials, from January 2021 to August 2022 events were held there for “tens of thousands of members and guests” of the club and there were no conditions for “the storage, possession, display, display or discussion of confidential documents.”

The attorney general’s office claims to know of two cases in which Trump, having already left the presidency, showed classified documents to strangers. In July 2021, he presented and described “a plan of attack … prepared for him by the Department of Defense” in a meeting with “a writer, a publisher, and two of his employees, none of whom had security clearances.” In August or September of the same year, and under similar circumstances, he demonstrated “Secret map related to a military operation”.

Trump faces 31 counts of “willfully withholding national defense information,” with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison in each case. The charges of “conspiracy to obstruct justice,” “withholding a document or record,” “corruptly withholding a document or record,” and “withholding a document in a federal investigation” each carry a 20-year prison term. The articles “Participation in the Cover-Up Scheme” and “Providing False Information and Testimony” are charged with two more five-year terms.

Trump describes the criminal case as interfering in the upcoming presidential elections, in which he intends to participate, and recalls that secret documents were also found in the private office and home of current US President Joe Biden, who has not yet been charged.