Why Is Donald Trump Facing Criminal Charges Over Classified Documents?
Donald Trump has appeared in a Miami courtroom to face criminal charges over national security documents he kept when he left the presidential office, and lied to officials who sought to recover them.
Here’s a summary of what’s happened so far.
What are the charges?
On Tuesday, the former US president pleaded not guilty as he was charged on 37 criminal counts relating to keeping classified documents at his Florida home – including in his ballroom and shower, and involving nuclear weapons and foreign adversaries.
The charges include violations of the Espionage Act, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and making false statements to investigators.
It’s the first time a former president has been indicted by the federal government.
What did he do?
The charges are less to do with taking the documents – some of which were top secret, the classification level reserved for the country’s most closely held secrets – and more to do with not handing them back when asked.
In January 2022, Trump agreed to return 15 boxes of records to the US National Archives and Records Administration, and officials discovered in them more than 700 pages of records marked as classified.
The Justice Department issued a grand jury subpoena in May 2022 asking Trump to return any other classified records. Trump’s attorneys later turned over 38 pages marked as classified and attested that all records with classified markings had been returned to the government – a claim that later proved to be false.
In August, the FBI conducted a search of Trump’s Palm Beach home and seized approximately 13,000 more records, about 100 of which were marked as classified.
What about other document cases?
Sitting US president Joe Biden and former vice president Mike Pence have not been charged after it was discovered that both men retained classified records after leaving office. The Biden documents stem from his time as a vice president and senator.
Unlike Trump, Biden and Pence immediately returned the records and cooperated with efforts to search for additional documents. The Justice Department is investigating the Biden matter and dropped a separate probe of Pence on June 1.
What has Trump said?
Trump has resorted to his usual playbook – calling the charges an attempt to stop him from being president again and labeling them a witch hunt.
Trump announced his indictment on his personal social media platform last week after having been informed of it by his lawyers. He has spent the subsequent four days attacking special counsel Jack Smith, calling him a “thug”, “deranged”, a “Trump hater” and a “maniac”.
Even during his motorcade trip to the courthouse – complete with highway travel lanes closed down during its passage – Trump continued posting messages. “ON MY WAY TO COURTHOUSE. WITCH HUNT!!! MAGA”, he wrote.
What are Trump’s other legal troubles?
In April, he pleaded not guilty to state charges in New York stemming from a hush money payment to a porn star. Tuesday’s appearance in Miami was on federal charges.
In May, Trump was found liable of sexually abusing and defaming journalist E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s and was ordered to pay her $5 million.
But there’s more to come with further investigations into his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
How does it affect Trump’s political future?
Trump is currently the frontrunner to be the Republican nominee for next year’s presidential election – and is currently leading his rivals by wide margins in polling. His previous legal problems have even boosted his poll rating.
The case is unlikely to conclude before the vote in November next year – so will cast a long shadow over the primaries and election campaign.
Tellingly, Trump’s main rivals for the Republican presidential nomination have condemned the Justice Department for its move to charge him, underscoring their fear of upsetting his core supporters.
Is Trump going to jail?
Most of the charges carry prison terms as long as 10 years if convicted, but the obstruction charges have 20-year maximums.
Even if he does go to jail, there’s nothing stopping Trump from being president from behind bars.