By: Jy Hung Ong
On Thursday, June 8, Donald Trump, former president of the United States, was indicted on 37 charges for storing boxes containing classified documents at his residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
To some, Donald Trump is considered a very controversial president. He had hidden boxes that contained classified information at his estate in Mar-a-Lago. Boxes were found throughout the house, including in a ballroom, bathroom and shower, office, bedroom, and storage room.
The documents hidden in the boxes included classified information on the U.S. and foreign countries such as their vulnerabilities, nuclear programs, defense and weapons capabilities, and plans for retaliation against an attack. This information is supposed to be retained only inside the White House, so these boxes were all illegally moved. He has been charged with willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document in a federal investigation, scheming to conceal, and false statements and representations.
People have already called out his actions as harmful for the health of our country.
“Our laws that protect national defense information are critical to the safety and security of the United States and they must be enforced. We have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone,” Jack Smith, Special Counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice, said.
According to the indictment, between May 23 and June 2 of 2022, Donald Trump told his personal assistant, Waltine “Walt” Nauta, to move 64 boxes out of the Mar-a-Lago storage room into his residence so he could review the contents. However, when Trump was finished, Nauta returned only 30 boxes to the storage room afterward.
Eventually, the Justice Department found out about the possibility he had hidden more documents at his home and asked for judicial approval for a search warrant. They received it and proceeded to find all the documents. The Justice Department found over 100 classified documents in the following FBI search of Mar-a-Lago.
In the indictment, Nauta is said to have made multiple false statements denying his role in concealing the boxes. “I wish I could tell you. I don’t know. I don’t — I honestly just don’t know,” Nauta said.
Trump and his team quickly framed this incident to diminish him as a political opponent. In the end, it will be up to a jury to prove his innocence or guilt.
Link to article:
https://eb18600f7bb2916037f5ee8e636ce199.cdn.bubble.io/f1686437425489x424356861829671800/Trump%20indicted%20on%2037%20charges%2C%20including%20violations%20of%20Espionage%20Act%20-%20Los%20Angeles%20Times.pdf