Boiled down, the 49-page indictment that was unsealed on Friday is detailed and devastating. Multiple witnesses are quoted under oath. There’s audio tape contradicting what the former president had previously said.
And there’s paragraph after paragraph of potentially damning allegations giving the clearest picture yet of the files Trump took with him when he left the White House – and how carelessly the information was stored at his Mar-a-Lago estate, which has hosted tens of thousands of guests over the years.
This image, contained in the indictment against former President Donald Trump, shows boxes of records in a storage room at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach
The classified documents Trump took were found all over the Florida resort, “in a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, an office space, his bedroom, and a storage room”. Some included information about the defence capabilities of the US and foreign countries. Others had detail about nuclear programs and military vulnerabilities. There was intelligence that should have only been shared with members of the Five Eyes intelligence allies including Australia.
And after getting a subpoena to return the documents, Trump sought to thwart attempts to retrieve the information or investigate the case. At one point he allegedly told his lawyers: “Wouldn’t it be better if we just told them we don’t have anything here?”
America now finds itself with the bizarre reality of its federal government prosecuting its former president who is also the frontrunner for the Republican nomination.
How this shakes up the 2024 election is yet to be seen. Trump, for now, is doing what he’s always done – maintaining his innocence; decrying the “witch hunt” against him; and milking his MAGA base for donations to prop up his campaign.
Loading
And most Republicans, even his biggest primary race rivals, are standing by him, furious by what they see as the “weaponisation” of US law enforcement agencies such as the Justice Department and the FBI under the Biden administration.
Trump argues he was authorised to have the documents and never sought to obstruct the case. But his ongoing legal woes could nonetheless distract him from the contest, or force him to plan campaigns around his court appearances – not just in Miami for the latest case, but also New York where he faces trial over hush money charges.
What’s more, his endless scandals could increasingly put off the moderates and independents in swing states that will determine the 2024 election.
After all, since taking in office in 2016, Trump has been under near constant investigation. He’s been impeached twice, firstly for abuse of power and obstruction; secondly for inciting an insurrection.
Rioters loyal to Donald Trump rally at the US Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021.Credit: AP
He was found by a Congressional inquiry to be the “central cause” of attack on the US Capitol and a co-conspirator in a multipart plan to stop Joe Biden’s election victory from being certified.
Trump was last month found to have sexually assaulted and defamed New York writer E. Jean Carroll. And he’s still the subject of two separate probes: one for attempting to overturn the 2020 election result in Georgia, and another for his role in the 2021 Capitol riot.