The 49-page federal indictment against former U.S. President Donald Trump and his aide is a legal and historic stunner.
It begins with a prologue of sorts, detailing how the ex-President, while in office, had access to the "most sensitive classified and national defense information.”
Some of that information included the defense and weapons capabilities of the U.S. and foreign countries, the nation’s nuclear programs, and plans for possible retaliation in the event of a foreign attack.
All information that, if improperly disclosed, could put the nation’s security at risk.
But according to the newly released indictment, that’s precisely what the nation’s 45th President is accused of doing after he left office.
Federal investigators stated that Trump illegally stored highly classified government documents in boxes at his private clubs in New Jersey and Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach.
The boxes are stored in various locations, including a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, an office space, his bedroom, and a storage room.
Months later, the indictment stated that some of the nation’s documented secrets were allegedly found spilled onto the floor.
In it, the former president is accused of showing some of the government’s classified information to others two times in 2021.
The indictment states the first occurred at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. It happened during a recorded meeting with a writer and publisher.
Trump is heard showing and describing a “plan of attack” he said was being prepared for him by the Department of Defense.
According to the indictment, Trump told his visitors the plan was “highly confidential” and “secret” but then admitted, “as president, I could have declassified it” and “now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”
A month or two later, federal investigators stated it happened again at the exact location. Trump is accused of showing a member of his political action committee, with no security clearance, a classified map of a military operation.
Trump acknowledges to the PAC member that “he should not be showing it” and that the member “not get too close.”
From storing the documents to allegedly trying to hide them, Trump’s federal indictment goes on.
Six months after learning Trump had taken with him secret government information; investigators said Trump tried to hide it from the FBI.
In the indictment, Trump is accused of obstructing the federal investigation into his document scandal in several ways, including suggesting his attorney lie that he kept classified documents. In another case, Trump allegedly asked his attorney to hide, even destroy, the documents requested by the Grand Jury.
The indictment also includes several quotes Donald Trump made about the importance of classified information while running for President.
“In my administration,” he said, “I’m going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information. No one will be above the law.”
Now it appears the former U.S. President is living his words.
