Trump, indicted by federal justice for his management of the White House files

First modification: 06/09/2023 – 11:01

With our correspondent in Miami, David Thomson, and the AFP

Donald Trump has been indicted again, but this time by federal justice, something unprecedented for a former US president. He is charged with seven counts in the case of classified documents found by the FBI at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida home, including unlawful withholding of state secrets, obstruction of justice and false statements.

Donald Trump, who must appear before a federal court in Miami next Tuesday, published a video on his social networks a few minutes after his indictment was confirmed by federal justice, from his golf club in Bedminister, in New Jersey.

“A Dark Day”

His line of defense has not changed: the five boxes of classified documents found in his Florida home by the FBI are a mere pretext to prevent him from running for office. He maintains his innocence and claims to be the victim of a plot: “I am an innocent man. We will prove it one more time. This is a hoax. It is electoral interference. They try to destroy a reputation to win an election. We cannot allow them to do it”, it states.

He is accused of keeping entire boxes of documents, including some classified as “defense secrets”, after his departure from Washington in 2021 and refusing to return them, in violation of federal law. The tycoon, who is currently well ahead in the race for the Republican nomination, has always denied any wrongdoing and describes himself as the victim of “political persecution.” “I never imagined that something like this could happen to a former president of the United States,” he lashed out this Thursday, denouncing “a dark day” for the country.

“How can the Justice Department indict me when I have done nothing?” he wrote on Truth Social on Monday, as his lawyers were greeted by Justice Department officials. This meeting was seen as a sign that an indictment was imminent after months of investigation, culminating in the spectacular search of his Florida home in August 2022.

11,000 documents

In the United States, a 1978 law requires all presidents to send all their emails, letters and other working documents to the National Archives. Another law, the Espionage Act, prohibits anyone from storing classified documents in unauthorized and unsecured locations.

However, when Donald Trump left the presidency to move to his luxurious Mar-a-Lago residence, he took entire boxes of files with him. In January 2022, after several reminders, he agreed to return 15 boxes containing more than 200 classified documents. In a letter, his lawyers assured that there were no more.

However, after examining them, the federal police decided that he had not handed over everything and that he still kept many of them at his Palm Beach club. FBI agents went there on August 8 and seized another thirty boxes containing 11,000 documents, including some very sensitive ones on Iran and China.

united republicans

Claiming to be the victim of political persecution is a strategy that works very well on his side. All the Republican leaders are united behind Trump, and even his main rival in the primaries is coming to his defense. “This instrumentalization of federal justice is a moral threat to our society,” Ron DeSantis tweeted.

His supporters defend him in the studies of foxnews, like the Texan pastor Robert Jefress, who claims to have called Trump to tell him that thousands of Christians pray for him. Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, back in foxnewsdirectly accused Joe Biden of political plotting: “If the incumbent president can jail his opponents as Joe Biden is trying to do tonight, we are no longer in a republic. Joe Biden and his friends are trying to eliminate their main opponent This has never happened in the history of the United States. We are entering a dangerous zone. And it is because of Joe Biden.”

Last November, a special prosecutor was appointed to investigate the case independently and avoid charges of conspiracy. Jack Smith could also soon accuse Trump in another case: that of his role in the assault on the Washington Capitol on January 6, 2021.