The Justice Department unsealed its indictment against Donald Trump on Friday, revealing its allegations against the former president related to the classified documents he stored at Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House.
Trump was indicted in the case on Thursday, marking the second time the former president has faced criminal charges in less than four months. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged him with 34 separate felony counts of falsifying business records in April.
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The indictment details the nature of the documents Trump stored at Mar-a-Lago, demonstrating that he knew they were still classified and highly sensitive.
The indictment said, “The classified documents TRUMP stored in his boxes included 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 unauthorized disclosure of these classified documents could put at risk the national security of the United States, foreign relations, the safety of the United States military, and human sources and the continued viability of sensitive intelligence collection methods.”
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“In July 2021, at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey (“The Bedminster Club”), during an audio-recorded meeting with a writer, a publisher, and two members of his staff, none of whom possessed a security clearance, TRUMP showed and described a “plan of attack” that TRUMP said was prepared for him by the Department of Defense and a senior military official. TRUMP told the individuals that the plan was “highly confidential” and “secret.” TRUMP also said, “as president I could have declassified it,” and, “Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.””
Earlier Friday, two of his lawyers resigned from representing him in the classified documents case, and in another pending federal criminal investigation for his efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election.