WASHINGTON
\nUS prosecutors unsealed a 37-count indictment against Donald Trump on Friday, accusing the former president of risking some of the country\u2019s most sensitive security secrets after leaving the White House in 2021.
\nTrump mishandled classified documents that included information about the secretive US nuclear programme and potential domestic vulnerabilities in the event of an attack, the federal indictment said.
\nTrump also discussed with his lawyers the possibility of lying to government officials seeking to recover the documents; stored some documents in boxes around a toilet, and moved others around his Mar-aLago resort home in Florida to prevent them from being found, the charges said.
\n\u201cWouldn\u2019t it be better if we just told them we don\u2019t have anything here?\u201d Trump said to one of his attorneys, according to the 49-page indictment.
\nUnauthorised disclosure of classified documents posed a risk to US national security, foreign relations, and intelligence gathering, prosecutors said.
\nThe Justice Department made the criminal charges public on a tumultuous day in which two of Trump\u2019s lawyers, John Rowley and Jim Trusty, quit the case for reasons that were not immediately clear. A former aide, Walt Nauta, faces charges of being Trump\u2019s co-conspirator.
\nTrump is due to make a first appearance in the case in a Miami court on Tuesday, a day before his 77th birthday.
\nSince Trump would serve any sentences concurrently if convicted, the maximum prison time he would face is 20 years for obstruction of justice, a charge carrying the highest penalty.
\n\u201cOur laws that protect national defence information are critical to the safety and security of the United States, and they must be enforced,\u201d US Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the prosecution, said at a press conference.
\n\u201cWe have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everybody,\u201d Smith said in his first public appearance since Attorney General Merrick Garland assigned him to the investigation last year.
\nSmith said he would seek a speedy jury trial in Florida.
\nTrump has proclaimed his innocence. After the charges were unsealed, he attacked Smith on social media.
\n\u201cHe is a Trump Hater \u2014 a deranged \u2018psycho\u2019 that shouldn\u2019t be involved in any case having to do with \u2018Justice,\u2019\u201d Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
\nThe indictment of a former US president on federal charges is unprecedented in American history and emerges at a time when Trump is the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination next year.
\nTrump\u2019s legal woes have yet to dent his popularity with Republican voters, according to Reuters\/Ipsos polling.
\nBut the charges laid out against him on Friday could give his Republican rivals in the presidential race ammunition to attack his national-security credentials. So far, they have largely sided with him.
\n\u201cIts impossible to bet against Trump\u2019s staying power with the Republican base,\u201d said Matt Bennett of the center-left think tank Third Way. \u201cBut this conduct charged in this indictment is even worse than we expected \u2014 that might break through.\u201d
\nTrump and his allies have portrayed the case as political retaliation by Democratic President Joe Biden, but Biden has kept his distance.
\nThe White House said Biden had no advance knowledge of the indictment, and he later declined to comment when reporters asked about it.
\nEnds\/Online<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON US prosecutors unsealed a 37-count indictment against Donald Trump on Friday, accusing the former president of risking some of the country\u2019s most sensitive security secrets after leaving the White House in 2021. Trump mishandled classified documents that included information about the secretive US nuclear programme and potential domestic vulnerabilities in the event of an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336838,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-336816","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n