UNITED STATES—On Friday, June 9, Special Counsel, Jack Smith unsealed an indictment against former President Donald J. Trump accusing him of taking classified documents from The White House to his home, Mar-a-Lago, in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Smith handed down an indictment against former President Trump including 37 federal charges alleging Trump mishandled classified documents, and 31 counts insinuating that Trump violated a statute of the Espionage Act prohibiting willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and making false statements.
On Sunday, June 11, Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, told Fox News she advised Trump not to enter into a plea agreement. He has his first federal court appearance on June 13 in Miami, Florida.
“I know, I would never advise that, especially when he’s not done anything wrong. You take a plea deal to make something go away. That’s an admission of guilt. Because there is nothing wrong with declassifying documents, take them with you. An indictment is a one-sided document. He has a defense. The defense is real. He had the Presidential Records Act, which only he has in play. Hillary Clinton didn’t have that. Biden didn’t have that,” Habba stated.
On August 8, 2022, the FBI raided former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate searching for the documents. Agents took 15 boxes from the estate.
Trump isn’t the only individual who had declassified documents from his Presidency and took them after leaving office. After the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago, Trump questioned what had become of the 31 million pages of documents that former President Barack Obama allegedly kept. According to reports, Obama is still releasing confidential information.
Documents from current President Joe Biden were found at his Delaware home, some of which have been returned. Some of those classified documents were found in a think tank in Washington D.C.
In 1969, President Lyndon B. Johnson was found to be in possession of highly confidential information. In 1968, the first POTUS to be impeached, Richard Nixon, who was accused in the Watergate conspiracy had classified documents sent to his San Clemente, California home.
The Biden Administration is being accused of weaponizing the FBI and DOJ against a former Commander-in-Chief.
Trump was accused of colluding with Russia to change the results of the 2016 Presidential Election. There was no collusion. Trump was accused of obstructing justice and later exonerated. There was evidence presented of former Senator and Secretary of State and presidential nominee Hillary Clinton colluding with Russia, but she was not prosecuted.
