The United States Secret Service is preparing for Trump’s appearance in federal court in Miami on Tuesday, after a grand jury indicted him on 37 criminal counts relating to his handling of secret documents.
In connection with Trump’s attendance, spokesman Anthony Guglielmi stated that the agency “will not seek any special accommodations beyond what would be required to ensure the former President’s continued safety.”
While outlining the accusations against the former president, the Justice Department special counsel who filed them says in his first public speech that the country has “one set of laws that apply to everyone.”
According to the indictment, Trump kept sensitive materials in his Florida estate’s restroom and shower, as well as a ballroom, storage, office and bedroom.
Prosecutors stated that between the end of Trump’s administration in January 2021 and the August 2022 search, “tens of thousands of members and guests” visited the “active social club” of Mar-a-Lago. They contended that Trump “nonetheless” kept documents “in a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, office space, his bedroom and a storage room.”
According to the indictment, some of Trump’s boxes were held in one of Mar-a-Lago’s ornate ballrooms for two months. A photograph contained in the indictment shows boxes arranged in rows on the stage of the ballroom.
Trump is facing 37 felony accusations stemming from classified document misuse.
According to the accusation, he reportedly disclosed a Pentagon “plan of attack” and transmitted a classified map connected to a military operation.
The paper is the Justice Department’s first formal acknowledgement of a criminal investigation against Trump stemming from the retention of hundreds of records at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Walt Nauta, a Trump assistant who was spotted on surveillance camera removing boxes at Mar-a-Lago, was charged alongside Trump.
The indictment charges Trump with inappropriately removing hundreds of boxes from the White House and transporting them to Mar-a-Lago, many of which included classified material.
The criminal accusations were made public by the Justice Department on a stormy day in which two of Trump’s lawyers, John Rowley and Jim Trusty, resigned from the case for reasons that were not immediately clear. Walt Nauta, a former adviser, is accused of conspiring with Trump.
Trump is scheduled to appear in court for the first time in the case on Tuesday, a day before his 77th birthday.
Because Trump would serve any sentences he received consecutively if convicted, the maximum prison time he might face is 20 years for obstruction of justice, the most serious accusation.
Trump has asserted his innocence. He went after Smith on social media once the charges were unsealed.
“He is a Trump hater – a deranged ‘psycho’ who should not be involved in any ‘Justice’ case,” Trump tweeted on his Truth Social platform.
The indictment of a former U.S. president on federal charges is unprecedented in American history, and it comes at a time when Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee for president next year.
According to Reuters, Trump’s legal problems have not diminished his appeal among Republican supporters.
However, the allegations brought against him on Friday may provide ammunition for his Republican opponents in the presidential election to challenge his national-security credentials. So far, they have overwhelmingly supported him.
“It’s impossible to bet against Trump’s staying power with the Republican base,” said Matt Bennett of Third Way, a center-left think tank. “However, the conduct charged in this indictment is even worse than we expected – that could be a breaking point.”
Trump and his supporters have painted the case as political vengeance by Democratic Vice President Joe Biden, although Biden has remained silent.
Biden Silent Over Trump
Meanwhile, the White House stated that President Joe Biden had no prior knowledge of the charge, and he later declined to comment when asked about it by reporters.
According to three people familiar with the matter, the federal investigation into President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents appears to be nearing its conclusion, even as the probes into former Vice President Mike Pence and former President Donald Trump have reached or appear to be nearing their conclusion.
Hur was appointed as a special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland in January after sensitive records from the Obama administration were discovered at the president’s former office in Washington, D.C., and his residence in Wilmington, Delaware.
Biden allies were irritated that Garland appointed a special counsel in Biden’s case to demonstrate equitable treatment for the current and former presidents, but did not name a special counsel in the Pence probe, according to two people familiar with the situation.
According to a person familiar with the private discussions, Biden aides were also irritated that the Justice Department had closed its investigation into Pence, finding no wrongdoing, just days before he planned to declare a 2024 bid for the Republican nomination to defeat Biden.
