The indictment made public Thursday appears to stem from an FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence last August, when the federal government recovered more than 300 classified-marked documents, including some materials labeled «top secret.» «, seized months after Trump’s lawyers turned over an initial 15 boxes of documents.
The special counsel has been investigating Trump’s handling of classified documents that were brought to Mar-a-Lago after he left the White House in 2021.
On Friday, CNN reported that Trump acknowledged in a 2021 recording that he was holding «secret» military information that he had not released. Trump has publicly claimed that all the documents he brought with him to Mar-a-Lago were declassified. POLITICO has not independently verified the recording of Trump reported by CNN.
«As president, I could have declassified it, but now I can’t,» Trump said, according to the transcript obtained by CNN.
«Secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this,» Trump said, according to the transcript obtained by CNN. «This was done by the military and they gave it to me.»
Trump is the first president in US history to face federal criminal charges, although the indictment announced this week is not the first. Trump faced his first indictment earlier this year and pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges filed by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in March. That New York grand jury indicted Trump for his alleged role in a scheme to pay secret money to an adult film actress during the 2016 presidential campaign to cover up an alleged affair, which Trump denies.
The former president also continues to be under investigation by special counsel Jack Smith for his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, as well as by Georgia prosecutors for his attempt to overturn the election results in that state.
Trump’s attorney, in a separate interview with Fox News, said Trump’s second indictment is nothing more than a «political weapon to sideline a candidate.»
“None of this is a surprise to the real people at Archives, but they have turned it into a political weapon to sideline a candidate,” Trump attorney Jim Trusty said on “Fox and Friends” on Friday. “There is a lot that is wrong about the merits of these potential charges or what appears to be the indictment. But the flip side, even before it comes down to it, is misconduct.»