the keys to the historic case for withholding classified documents

As a political karma, the same issue that prompted the arrival of Donald Trump to the Presidency of the United States more than six years ago, today jeopardizes his chances of returning to the White House.

And it is that during his first campaign for the Executive, in 2016, the Republican leader launched harsh criticism against his then rival at the polls, Democrat Hillary Clinton, for keeping information on state secrets in his personal email. A case on which Trump based part of his campaign slogan, while repeatedly calling his opponent “corrupt.”

Today it is the ex-president who is involved in accusations of withholding classified documents, just when he is seeking the candidacy of his party to return to occupy the first position in the nation.

Surrounded by a strong security device and dozens of followers who have gathered since the day before, the former president testifies this June 13 before a judge, at the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. Federal Courthouse, in downtown Miami. It is the first time in the country’s 247-year history that a former head of state has faced federal criminal charges.

Trump is scheduled to plead not guilty after being fingerprinted and hearing the reading of the 37 counts he is accused of. The case stems from the discovery of boxes with hundreds of confidential reports that would contain state secrets, at his home in Mar-a-Lago, in August 2022, more than a year after he left the Presidency. The formal accusation was released by the authorities on June 9.

The court appearance comes amid alerts from authorities about possible protests and riots by supporters of the tycoon-turned-politician, especially after some of his supporters indicated they planned to arrive in bus convoys from different parts of Florida. .

Given the concerns it represents for law enforcement, Miami Mayor Francis Suárez maintained that the city will be ready after taking several measures. Among them, the diversion of traffic and the possible blockade of the streets, depending on the size of the crowd in the center of the city, which could range from a few thousand protesters to 50,000, according to an estimate by the local Police chief, Manuel Morales.

The authorities are enlisting after Trump himself encouraged his supporters to join a planned mobilization in the vicinity of the courthouse. And given the background of the unprecedented assault on the Capitol, on January 6, 2021, by a mob of supporters of the then president, no concern is dismissed.

What is the content of the files that have Trump on the ropes?

According to prosecutors, nearly 13,000 records were found on his property in Florida. At least 100 of them were marked classified, some of which were labeled “top secret,” a level reserved for the top state secrets. They were all seized when the FBI searched the mansion.

Investigators point out that Trump could have endangered national security if these materials fell into the wrong hands.since it would have exposed members of the Army, confidential human sources and intelligence-gathering methods, prosecutors remarked.

The files include a secret map, information on the weapons capabilities of the first power and its allies, as well as a “plan of attack” from the Pentagon.

“The classified documents that Trump stored in his boxes included information about the defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and other countries; United States nuclear programs; vulnerabilities to potential military attacks by the United States and its allies; and plans for possible reprisals in response to a foreign attack”, states the text of the accusation against the ex-president.

The documents were found in various rooms of the home, including “a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, an office space, his bedroom and a storage room,” the indictment states.

But Trump had been put on notice. In fact, in January 2022, the former ruler agreed to return 15 boxes of records to the US National Archives and Records Administration, and officials discovered in them more than 700 pages of records marked as classified.

By May of that same year, the Justice Department issued a subpoena asking him to return any other classified records. Trump’s lawyers then handed over 38 pages marked classified and ensured that all reports marked as confidential documentation had already been returned in their entirety to the government, a claim that later turned out to be untrue.

What are the 37 charges against Trump?

The 37 criminal charges include violations of the Espionage Act, conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements to investigators.

Precisely, the most serious accusations are 31 accusations presented under the Espionage Law, which defines as a crime the unauthorized possession of national defense information. An act that is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

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While the World War I-era espionage law predates the document classification law, it makes it a crime to knowingly withhold national security information because it could be useful to foreign adversaries. Therefore, the courts have ruled that such data must be kept under the surveillance of the authorities.

The accusations of obstruction of Justice are based on his alleged “intent to prevent, block or influence” the investigation.

To prove those allegations, prosecutors will need to show that the political leader’s actions were intentional and that his goal was to hinder the investigation, regardless of whether or not those efforts were successful.

A case of political motivations?

Although this is the second time that Trump has appeared at an indictment against him, after doing so last April for irregular payments to actress Stormy Daniels, during his 2016 campaign, the seriousness of the case due to classified documents is beyond doubt. outshines the previous

The case would be fraught with political implications. For the controversial ex-governor, the idea of ​​a “witch hunt” is not unreasonable. And it is that the controversial Republican is the favorite to obtain the nomination of the blue bench, facing the 2024 presidential elections.

But given the seriousness and magnitude of the new accusations, it could also be a widely legally supported case. This poses profound legal consequences, given the possibility of a sentence that carries years in prison. Even for a defendant whose post-Presidency life has been dominated by judicial investigations.

The investigation related to state secrets has stood out both for the apparent volume of evidence accumulated by prosecutors, and for the seriousness of the charges.

The complaint “in many ways overshadows the first, both in legal gravity and political danger,” said Peter Baker, White House correspondent for the New York Times.

The case also represents a watershed moment for a Justice Department that until last week had never before brought charges against a former president.

“We have a set of laws in this country and they apply to everyone,” remarked the special prosecutor in charge of the investigation, Jack Smith, specifically designated for this complaint, in an attempt by the Joe Biden Administration to isolate that government entity. of political attacks.

With Reuters and local media