The allegation made public Thursday apparently stems from an FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence last August, when the federal government recovered more than 300 confidentially marked documents, including some materials labeled « top secret,” seized months after Trump’s lawyers handed over 15 initial boxes of documents.
The special counsel has been investigating Trump’s handling of classified documents that were brought to Mar-a-Lago after he left the White House in 2021.
Trump is the first president in US history to face federal criminal charges, though the indictment announced this week isn’t his first. Trump faced his first indictment earlier this year and pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges filed by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in March. That New York grand jury indicted Trump for his alleged role in a scheme to hush pay an adult film actress during the 2016 presidential campaign in order to cover up an alleged affair, which Trump denies.
The former president also remains under investigation by Special Counsel Jack Smith for his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, as well as by prosecutors in Georgia for his attempt to overturn the election results in that state.
Trump’s attorney, in a separate interview with Fox News, said Trump’s second charge is nothing more than « a political weapon to sideline a candidate. »
« None of this comes as a surprise to the real people at Archives, but they’ve turned it into a political weapon to sideline a candidate, » Trump attorney Jim Trusty said on « Fox and Friends » Friday. “There is a lot wrong with the merits of these potential charges or what the charge appears to be. But the flip side, even before we get to that, is misconduct.
