Trump trial: Details of the most serious accusation brought against the former US president

Former Republican President Donald Trump has been charged with endangering the United States by keeping secret documents, including military and nuclear secrets, after leaving the White House, according to a historic indictment issued Friday.

During his disclosure of this regulation during a brief televised speech, the special prosecutor in charge of the investigation, Jack Smith, said, “The laws in the United States apply to everyone”.

He stressed that the laws that protect information related to national defense are necessary and violating them endangers our country, calling for a quick trial of the Republican billionaire.

Trump announced Thursday that the federal judiciary had indicted him for dealing with documents from the White House archives, in a precedent for a former US president, saying he was summoned to a court in Miami on Tuesday.

Trump stressed that he was innocent, portraying himself as a victim of a plot orchestrated by his Democratic opponents to obstruct his access to the White House, which he hopes to return to in 2024.

The indictment, issued Friday, includes 37 counts, including “unlawful retention of information related to national security,” “obstruction of justice,” and providing “false testimony”.

Trump commented on his Truth Social network, “This is no longer America!” stressing that he never had anything to hide.

In the United States, there is a law that requires presidents to send all emails, letters, and other business documents to the National Archives.

Another law relating to espionage prohibits keeping state secrets in unauthorized and unsafe places.

When he left the White House in January 2021 to settle into his lavish Mar-a-Lago residence, Trump took boxes full of classified files with him.

According to the indictment, the boxes were kept stacked in a hall before being moved to a storage room accessible from the swimming pool, where documents labeled top secret were seen on the floor.

The indictment includes a photo showing stacks of boxes inside a large bathroom.

In January 2022, after repeated requests, Trump agreed to return 15 boxes containing more than 200 classified documents.

His lawyers confirmed in a letter afterwards that there was no other document.

However, after examining the documents, the FBI saw that not everything had been returned and that he still kept a large number of papers at his club in Palm Beach.

On August 2, the FBI raided the house and seized about thirty other boxes containing 11,000 documents, some of which were very sensitive about Iran or China.

According to the indictment, the documents Trump took included information related to the defense capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries, and the US nuclear programs.

This information also relates to possible weaknesses of the United States and its allies in the event of a military attack, and plans for a possible response to a foreign attack.

Trump aide Walt Nauta has been charged with six counts for helping to conceal the documents.