Donald Trump faces fresh charges in Mar-a-Lago classified documents case as legal woes mount
- US prosecutors accuse the former US president and a new third defendant of conspiring to destroy evidence in the Mar-a-Lago investigation
- The three new counts against Trump come ahead of an expected indictment in a separate case related to the 2020 election
Former US president Donald Trump faced fresh charges alleging that he attempted to obstruct the investigation into the mishandling of top-secret documents by conspiring to delete surveillance footage at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida.
Federal prosecutors unsealed the new indictment targeting the front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, who is set to go on trial as the election heats up in May of next year.
The new charges on Thursday came as Trump said his lawyers met with Justice Department officials ahead of a separate expected indictment over his alleged efforts to overturn the result of the 2020 election.
The twice-impeached former president was first indicted in the classified documents case last month, accused of endangering national security by holding on to top secret nuclear and defence information after leaving the White House.
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Trump kept the files – which included records from the Pentagon, CIA and National Security Agency – unsecured at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida and thwarted official efforts to retrieve them, according to the indictment.