Devendra Kumar
Justice Department’s startling allegations against Donald Trump detailing he stored classified documents in various locations at his Florida club, flaunted sensitive information to personnel without security clearance, and attempted to conceal documents from his own lawyers and investigators, revealed in a criminal indictment unsealed on Friday.
According to the indictment, Trump kept classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago club, including sensitive information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of the United States and foreign countries, as well as plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack. Additionally, he stored documents in a bathroom and shower, in cardboard boxes alongside newspapers, press clippings, notes, and cards.
Trump’s actions, as described in the indictment, included showing a “plan of attack” prepared by the Defense Department and a senior military official to individuals without security clearance. He also showed a classified map of a military operation in a foreign country to someone working for his political action committee who also lacked clearance.
Furthermore, Trump’s lawyers sought to defy a grand jury subpoena for classified records, with Trump telling them “I don’t want anybody looking through my boxes.” He also asked his lawyers to consider saying they didn’t have any classified documents, rather than complying with the subpoena.
The indictment also alleges that Trump’s lawyer, in June 2022, identified 38 documents with “classified” markings and put them in a folder, only for Trump to ask the lawyer to identify “anything really bad” and “pluck it out.” The lawyer subsequently contacted the FBI and another Trump lawyer.
Trump also directed his valet, Walt Nauta, to move boxes of documents to conceal them from the FBI, the grand jury, and one of his own lawyers. In one instance, he told Nauta to return 30 boxes just before a lawyer was set to review them.
Even as Trump told his lawyers he was an “open book,” he had Nauta load several of his boxes onto an aircraft that flew him and his family north for the summer, according to the indictment. The Justice Department’s allegations against Trump paint a picture of a former president who repeatedly and consistently disregarded national security protocols, risking the safety and security of the United States and its allies.