Details of the criminal trial against former US president Donald Trump have emerged. He was indicted on Friday on 37 counts, with a combined sentence of up to 400 years in prison. Trump is charged with unlawful possession of classified documents relating to national security and perjury
The US Justice Department has revealed how Donald Trump kept secret documents about the US nuclear programme. Judging by photos released, the investigation shows that boxes of documents the former president took out of the White House were arranged in various places at his Florida estate. Including in the ballroom, bathroom and shower, toilet, staff room, his bedroom and storeroom. In one of the pictures, boxes of classified documents can be seen stacked next to the toilet.
Boxes of documents stored in the bathroom at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida in early 2021. Photo: Reuters
The documents reportedly contained data on US and other countries’ defence capabilities, as well as nuclear programmes, potential vulnerabilities, threat retaliation plans and intelligence from America and its allies.
All of this Donald Trump took with him from the official residence of the US president.
According to American political scientist Dmitri Drobnitsky, the denouement in this case will not come soon – not even this year.
“I think this case will last a long time. The lawyers are good, the bureaucratic system is rather sluggish. Plus, the other side is obviously in a big hurry to indict Trump. Of course, it is unlikely that he will face arrest as a precautionary measure. Most likely there won’t even be bail set – he will be free on his own recognisance. It’s clear that this case is a PR stunt,” political analyst Dmitriy Drobnitsky told aif.ru.
According to the specialist, a very similar case could be launched against current US President Joe Biden.
Last November, classified documents were also discovered at the Penn Biden Center, a think tank linked to Biden. They were kept along with other papers that did not contain classified information. US Attorney General Merrick Garland has ordered an investigation into how the classified documents ended up at the think-tank.
“Something was checked there too, but then – silence. The liberal-oriented attorney general’s office is wrinkling, although the case is getting worse there. More and more documents on this investigation are being uncovered in Congress, but the development of this case requires an appropriate position from the attorney general,” says Dmitry Drobnitsky.
As for Trump, this is not the first time he has been accused of such strange handling of important documents. Early last year, it was revealed that former US President Donald Trump periodically personally flushed some documents down the White House toilet. He was caught doing this by New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman. According to her, White House staff on several occasions found crumpled documents in the toilet bowl, which the former president was allegedly trying to destroy in this way.
Dmitry Sokolov, AiF
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