But some of the information Trump stored could have also put key allies at risk by compromising information that was not meant to go beyond the countries involved. For instance, on December 21, 2021, one of Trump’s staffers Waltine Nuatu found the contents of several of Trump’s boxes spilled onto the floor of a storage room including a document marked “SECRET REL TO USA, FVEY”
This meant the “information in the document was releasable only to the Five Eyes intelligence alliance consisting of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States”, the indictment says.
Special counsel Jack Smith addresses media on Friday. Credit: AP
In his first comments on the matter, Special Counsel Jack Smith said on Friday afternoon: “We have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone.
“The men and women of the United States intelligence community and our armed forces dedicate their lives to protecting our nation and its people.
“Our laws that protect National Defence Information are critical to the safety and security of the United States and they must be enforced. Violations of those laws put our country at risk.”
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On a number of occasions Trump also allegedly shared information with others. This included a highly sensitive “plan of attack” against Iran to visitors at his golf club in New Jersey in July 2021. He was also recorded on tape describing the material as “highly confidential” and “secret” and allegedly admitting that it had not been declassified.
In another incident in September 2021, he allegedly shared a top secret military map with a staffer at his political action committee who did not have a security clearance.
Trump is accused of violating seven federal laws but faces 37 separate charges. Thirty-one of those counts involve violating a part of the Espionage Act that bars willful retention of national defence material without authorisation.
It also includes a further six charges: three relating to withholding or concealing documents in a federal investigation; two relating to false statements; and one involving a “conspiracy” to obstruct justice.
After getting subpoena to return the documents, he allegedly told his lawyers: “I don’t want anybody looking through my boxes, I really don’t”, and at one stage asked: “Wouldn’t it be better if we just told them we don’t have anything here?”
This image, contained in the indictment against Trump, shows boxes of records stored in the Lake Room at the Mar-a-Lago estate.
Trump has denied the allegations, and issued a social media post on Friday attacking Smith as “deranged”. He also cited the documents probe against Biden which is yet to conclude.
“Biden moved his Boxes all over the place, including to Chinatown and up to his lawyer’s office in Boston. Why isn’t deranged Jack Smith looking at that?” he said.
“Also, I supplied them openly, and without question, security tape from Mar-a-Lago. I had nothing to hide, nor do I do now. Nobody said I wasn’t allowed to look at the personal records that I brought with me from the White House. There’s nothing wrong with that ...”
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Trump has been summoned to appear in court on Tuesday afternoon in Miami. Security is currently being beefed up to facilitate his arraignment, which comes about two months after he was indicted in Manhattan over alleged hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Despite his legal woes, the former president remains the overwhelming frontrunner in the race for the Republican presidential nomination in a field of candidates that includes Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former vice president Mike Pence, former UN ambassador Nikky Haley and Senator Tim Scott.
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