Former US President Donald Trump has been indicted again. This time by a federal judge and accused of seven criminal charges for illegally taking classified documents to his Mar-a-Lago mansion. This is the Republican's second indictment and the first in history in which a federal court indicts a former White House occupant. Trump will have to testify next Tuesday before a Miami court. For the moment, Republicans, including his rivals for the presidential nomination, are closing ranks in support of the magnate, but the development of the case could shake his plans to return to Washington. This is what we know about the case.
Trump is being charged before a court in Miami for seven federal crimes, including illegal withholding of government secrets, obstruction of justice, conspiracy and false statements, according to major national media reports. The court document, however, has not yet been officially released and the Justice Department has yet to comment on the case. The accusation is part of the investigation, led by special counsel Jack Smith, into Trump's handling of hundreds of classified documents that were found by the FBI in his mansion in Florida and that the former president would have taken illegally after lose the 2020 election to Joe Biden.
Investigators seized approximately 13,000 documents at Mar-a-Lago nearly a year ago. One hundred of them were marked as classified, despite the fact that one of Trump's lawyers had previously said that all documents with such a seal had been returned to the government.
How could it be otherwise, Trump pleads not guilty and the victim of a witch hunt. It was he himself who announced the imputation of him through his social network Truth Social. "I never thought it possible that something like this could happen to a former president of the United States who received more votes than any other president in the history of our country," he falsely claimed (in the 2020 presidential election Biden won by seven million votes against his rival, despite the fact that he and many Republicans continue to deny the legitimacy of the elections without providing evidence). "It's called electoral interference, they are trying to destroy my reputation in order to win the elections (...) they are going after me because I am leading the polls," said the former president.
At the moment, everything is declarations of support for the tycoon, even by his rivals for the Republican candidacy. Among the first to come out in his defense was the leader of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, who rejected the legal action, stating that "both I and all Americans who believe in the rule of law are with the president Trump in the face of this grave injustice." McCarthy also indicated that members of his party in the House will hold the government "accountable" for what he described as a "blatant instrumentalization of justice."
The governor of Florida and Trump's main rival in the Republican race, Ron DeSantis, also expressed his support for the former president. "We have witnessed for years how justice is applied unequally, depending on political affiliation," he wrote.
Among congressional Republicans, several of the strongest voices in favor of the former president were quick to reject the accusation. House Judiciary Committee members Jim Jordan and Andy Biggs defended Trump. Jordan wrote on his Twitter account that today was a "sad day" for the US, while Biggs went further and called for the FBI to be "dismantled." For her part, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of Trump's most ardent supporters, called the Department of Justice and the FBI "corrupt." "It's shameful, pathetic actually, the biggest hypocrisy in modern history," she wrote.
Trump remains the front-runner of the Republican base to this day, and his escalating legal troubles have not dented his popularity, polls show. Experts suggest that his followers will continue to support the conspiracy theses promoted by the former president and a large part of the Republican party, so this second accusation may not affect his plans.
It is quite another thing if this second accusation could end in a guilty conviction, something that, if it happens, could lead to prison sentences or disqualification from holding public office. Is the Republican party willing to go to the White House with a candidate campaigning behind bars? Or with a locator bracelet on the ankle? It seems a little crazy, but in the case of Donald Trump and with a mobilized base that is willing to follow its leader almost to the last consequences (remember the assault on the Capitol in 2021), it cannot be ruled out.
If we refer to historical examples, the only ex-president who was about to be sentenced was Richard Nixon for the Watergate case, but he was finally pardoned by his successor, Gerald Ford. The ball would be in the court of Joe Biden, who has been cautious when speaking out.
This is the second time Trump has faced criminal charges. In April of this year, the Republican was charged by a New York court with 34 counts in connection with payments made to porn actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign to buy her silence regarding an affair years ago while he was married. On May 9, a New York court ruled in favor of the civil lawsuit filed by the writer Jean Carroll and forced Trump to compensate her with five million dollars for sexually abusing her in 1996 and for defaming her by calling her a liar when she was revealed the case.
But Donald Trump's list of pending issues with justice is much longer. Special counsel Jack Smith is also investigating Trump's role in the January 6, 2021 storming of the Capitol. The federal investigation is also looking into a possible plot to submit false voter lists to prevent US lawmakers from certifying Biden's victory. A special House committee that investigated the 2021 attack last year urged the Justice Department to charge Trump with corruption of official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement, and inciting or help an insurrection.
Separately, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, a Democrat, is investigating whether Trump and others acted illegally to try to overturn their loss in that state's 2020 presidential election, with a decision expected by the next 1 of September. The criminal investigation centers, in part, on a Jan. 2, 2021 call Trump made to Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger asking him to "find" enough votes needed to overturn his loss in the state. Trump may have violated at least three Georgia criminal election laws: conspiracy to commit voter fraud, criminal solicitation to commit voter fraud, and intentional interference in the performance of election duties.
New York Attorney General Letitia James has also sued Trump and his family business, the Trump Organization, for fraud. James, a Democrat, said his office found more than 200 examples of misleading asset valuations between 2011 and 2021, and that Trump inflated his net worth by billions of dollars, a scheme aimed at helping Trump get higher interest rates. lower loans and better insurance coverage. The civil suit seeks to permanently bar Trump and three of his children from running businesses in New York state and to recover at least $250 million obtained through fraud. There is a trial scheduled for October 2023.
Finally – for now – the Department of Justice and financial regulators are investigating Digital World Acquisition Corp's October 2021 deal with Trump's social media firm, Truth Social. The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority are investigating whether securities regulations were breached, according to Digital World financial disclosure documents. Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed the company and all of its managers, Digital World revealed in June 2022.
