Former U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly stored sensitive documents including nuclear weapons secrets at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. U.S. media reports cited the indictment papers which were unsealed by federal prosecutors on Friday. However, except for the general descriptions of the “potentially sensitive documents”, the indictment does not reveal what’s in the classified documents.
What the indictment alleges
As per the indictment, Trump stored in cardboard boxes information “regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries; United States nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack; and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack.”
“The unauthorized disclosure of these classified documents could put at risk the national security of the United States, foreign relations, the safety of the United States military, and human sources and the continued viability of sensitive intelligence collection methods,” the indictment reads.
Images of the “classified documents” shared by the U.S. media show cardboard boxes labelled, stacked and stored in the rooms.
One such image shows some documents labelled “SECRET//SCI” and “TOP SECRET//SCI” scattered on the floor. The contents of the documents are dedicated. However, this raises an imperative question as to why the Dept of Justice (DoJ) would release clear images of “secret & top secret” documents even if it is meant to prove the charges against Trump.
Former Trump Attorney Timothy Parlatore while speaking to NBC News said, “Is it the type of thing where they want to declassify these things, if they haven’t already been declassified and put them out publicly? Even if he (Trump) did a lot of the things that they’re saying that he did, prosecuting him…there are the same reasons why you wouldn’t want to prosecute him as to why back in 2016 I was of the opinion that Hillary Clinton shouldn’t be prosecuted, because there are all of these other problems. You have to actually take these documents, show them to the jury and then prove to them that it constitutes national defence information. In doing you so, you…
When the NBC News Anchor asked, “…you’re declassifying that”, Parlatore answered, “to NBC News: “Exactly.”
Former House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz while speaking to Fox News pointed out another such questionable image. “I find these photos to be gratuitous at best. I mean for the FBI and Department of Justice to put those photos out…remember Mar-a-Lago is not just someplace you go walk-by, go check in…these are protected by the United States Secret Service. And if you look really closely at some of that photos that have come on, the ones that spilled on the ground, those are pictures of newspapers and of personal pictures of the President. That’s not classified material right there,” Chaffetz said.
While questioning the charges in the indictment, Chaffetz also questioned Trump asking, “Why not just turn them (the documents) back in?”
Parallels with Hillary Clinton Email Scandal
Supporters and critics alike are drawing parallels between Trump’s case with that of Hillary Clinton’s email scandal during her tenure as Secretary of State in the Obama administration. The 2016 Presidential nominee had used her private email server for official communication which led to a federal investigation by the FBI in 2015 for holding classified information. Then FBI director James Comey despite alleging that Clinton mishandled classified information, did not recommend prosecution and the DoJ declined to proceed in the case. Clinton was never charged.
Contrary to a 2018 U.S. govt report claiming 193 emails were classified, Clinton in 2022 had claimed that there were “zero classified email” on her private server. Further speaking to Fox News, Jason Chaffetz said, “I don’t understand why Hillary Clinton on the very day she started her Senate confirmation put up her own home brewed computer and then the FBI director comes out and says that ‘there was no intent to bypass the Federal Records Act.’ That thing was chock full of tens of thousands of documents, highly classified.”
Meanwhile, Clinton faced backlash on social media for mocking Trump over his indictment by downplaying the email scandal. She shared an image of herself from her tenure donning a black cap with the phrase “But Her Emails”.
“Bringing this back in light of recent news: Get a limited-edition But Her Emails hat and support Onward Together groups working to strengthen our democracy,” Clinton wrote on Friday, including a link to buy the $32 “unstructured dad hat.”
Bringing this back in light of recent news:
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 9, 2023
Get a limited-edition But Her Emails hat and support @onwardtogether groups working to strengthen our democracy.https://t.co/4TiUxjmRNY pic.twitter.com/uSofeNjBxy
One of the users Audsauce @Audjuice9989 tweeted the same image of Hillary Clinton with the text on the cap altered to, “Lost to Trump”.
— ♠️Audsauce♠️ (@Audjuice9989) June 9, 2023
Another user named Tribe @tribe_zero tweeted, “Gloating about getting away with crime isn’t the win you think it is…”
Gloating about getting away with crime isn’t the win you think it is…
— Tribe (@tribe_zero) June 9, 2023
Does this impact Donald Trump’s 2024 bid?
The former U.S. President, who is in the race for a second term in the 2024 Presidential Election, gave an exclusive statement to Fox News. He said his federal indictment is “election interference at the highest level,” telling Fox News Digital that the Biden administration is “the most corrupt” in history.
Notably, the indictment, a second one, does not impact Trump’s 2024 Presidential Campaign as per U.S. laws and he can still run for and be elected President even if tried and convicted. So barring more legal troubles, the case in itself is no threat to Trump’s Presidential bid provided he can swing public opinion in his favour.
“They come after me because now we are leading in the polls again by a lot, against Biden by a lot,” he said. Republican rivals to Trump for 2024 have also come out in his support.
Ron DeSantis, Governor of Florida said, “The weaponization of federal law enforcement represents a mortal threat to a free society. We have for years witnessed an uneven application of the law depending upon political affiliation.”
Nikki Haley, Former UN Ambassador and South Carolina Governor tweeted, “This is not how justice should be pursued in our country.”
This is not how justice should be pursued in our country.
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) June 9, 2023
The American people are exhausted by the prosecutorial overreach, double standards, and vendetta politics.
It’s time to move beyond the endless drama and distractions.
Vivek Ramaswamy, Entrepreneur tweeted, “We shouldn’t be some banana republic where the party in power uses police force to arrest its political opponents.”
We shouldn’t be some banana republic where the party in power uses police force to arrest its political opponents. I spoke truth to the Georgia GOP Convention today. pic.twitter.com/QDd4pAHuZx
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) June 9, 2023
Meanwhile, the DoJ reportedly believes that it will take prosecutors about a month in court to present their case to a jury at trial. Trump has been directed to appear before a federal court in Miami on June 13.
