Donald Trump described Pentagon plan of attack and shared classified map, unsealed indictment says
- The ex-US president is facing a total of 37 felony charges over the mishandling of classified documents that could result in a years-long prison sentence
- The indictment marks the Justice Department’s first official confirmation of a criminal case against Trump over files taken from the White House to Mar-a-Lago
Former US president Donald Trump improperly shared a Pentagon “plan of attack” and a classified map related to a military operation, according to a sweeping 37-count felony indictment related to the mishandling of classified documents that was unsealed on Friday and that could instantly reshape the 2024 presidential race.
The indictment paints an unmistakably damning portrait of Trump’s treatment of sensitive information, accusing him of wilfully defying Justice Department demands to return documents he had taken from the White House to Mar-a-Lago, enlisting aides in his efforts to hide the records and even telling his lawyers that he wanted to defy a subpoena for the materials stored in his estate.
“I don’t want anybody looking through my boxes,” one of Trump’s lawyers described the former president saying, according to the indictment. He also asked if it would be better “if we just told them we don’t have anything here,” the indictment says.
Making his first public statements, Jack Smith, the Justice Department special counsel who filed the case, said: “Our laws that protect national defence information are critical to the safety and security of the United States and they must be enforced. Violations of those laws put our country at risk.”
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Donald Trump becomes first ex-US president to face criminal charges: lawyer
He added: “We have one set of laws in this country and they apply to everyone.”