Former President Donald Trump was charged Thursday with federal crimes in connection with his alleged refusal to return classified documents to federal authorities after he left the White House.
Trump was already the first former president to face criminal charges and is now the first to face federal criminal charges. He was indicted in New York in April in a separate case concerning hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 campaign. And the twice-impeached former president could face additional legal troubles given that he is the target of several additional ongoing civil and criminal investigations.
The indictment, which was unsealed Friday, charges Trump with 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information under the Espionage Act and one count of false statements and representations.
Together with his body man Walt Nauta, Trump was also charged with one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, one count of withholding a document or record, one count of corruptly concealing a document or record, one count of concealing a document in a document in a federal investigation, and one count of scheming to conceal. Nauta was additionally charged with one count of false statements and representations.
Jack Smith, a special counsel appointed by the Justice Department in November to investigate the case, said in a press conference Friday that he intended to pursue a “speedy trial.”
“Our laws that protect national defense Information are critical to the safety and security of the United States and they must be enforced,” he said. “Violations of those laws put our country at risk.”
Trump said Thursday that he is an “innocent man” and framed the indictment as a political attack designed to undermine his 2024 presidential campaign. Other Republicans, including many of his GOP rivals in the primary, have repeated that defense.
“They’re trying to destroy our reputation so they can win an election,”…
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