The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released on Friday the indictment against Donald J. Trump, the former U.S. President.
According to the document, a grand jury in the Southern District of Florida has indicted Trump and Waltine Nauta, a former military valet in the Trump White House and a personal aide to the former president, on multiple charges involving the mishandling of sensitive government documents.
The indictment details alleged actions taken by the two men between May and August of 2022.
The allegations center on activities that took place in Palm Beach County and elsewhere.
Among the counts enumerated in the indictment are withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document or record, concealing a document in a federal investigation, a scheme to conceal, and false statements and representations.
Count 33 of the indictment alleges that “TRUMP attempted to persuade Trump Attorney 1 to hide and conceal documents from a federal grand jury” and that “TRUMP and NAUTA misled Trump Attorney 1 by moving boxes that contained documents with classification markings so that Trump Attorney 1 would not find the documents and produce them to a federal grand jury.”
In Count 34, the indictment alleges that “TRUMP and NAUTA hid and concealed boxes that contained documents with classification markings from Trump Attorney 1 so that Trump Attorney 1 would not find the documents and produce them to a federal grand jury.”
Additionally, Count 35 claims that “during a federal criminal investigation being conducted by the FBI, (1) TRUMP and NAUTA hid, concealed, and covered up from the FBI TRUMP’s continued possession of documents with classification markings at The Mar-a-Lago Club; and (2) TRUMP caused a false certification to be submitted to the FBI.”
In further developments, Count 37 alleges that Trump made false statements and representations, causing the following statements to be made to the grand jury and the FBI in a sworn certification:
“A diligent search was conducted of the boxes that were moved from the White House to Florida”; “This search was conducted after receipt of the subpoena, in order to locate any and all documents that are responsive to the subpoena”; and “Any and all responsive documents accompany this certification.” The indictment claims these were false, asserting that “after June 3, 2022, more than 100 documents with classification markings remained at The Mar-a-Lago Club until the FBI search on August 8, 2022.”
Waltine Nauta, in Count 38, is accused of making materially false statements during a voluntary interview with the FBI, including claiming he was not aware of any boxes being brought to Trump’s home and denying knowledge about how the boxes ended up in Pine Hall.
The indictment states these were false, as “NAUTA did in fact know that the boxes in Pine Hall had come from the Storage Room, as NAUTA himself, with the assistance of Trump Employee 2, had moved the boxes from the Storage Room to Pine Hall.”
The implications of this indictment remain to be seen, as the legal process moves forward for both Trump and Nauta.
As this unfolds, it promises to be one of the most closely-watched legal proceedings in recent history.
Read the full indictment below:
Following the release of the indictment, Trump took to his social media platform, Truth Social, to point out Joe Biden’s and Hillary Clinton’s apparently worse handling of classified material.
“Biden had records for years, totally unsecured, even stolen when he was a Senator. This is crazy!” he wrote Friday afternoon.
Trump argued that he was “allowed” to manage his documents in any manner he saw fit under the Presidential Records Act, which would not have applied to then-Secretary Clinton and then-Vice President Biden.
“Just like Jack Smith, Lisa Monaco, and the man they sent to the D.A.’s Office, Matt Colangelo. It isn’t America anymore. Under the Presidential Records Act, I’m allowed to do all this. Under the Clinton Socks Case, the decision is clear. There was no crime, except for what the DOJ and FBI have been doing against me for years.”
He went on in another post, arguing that Biden “moved his Boxes all over the place, including to Chinatown and up to his lawyer’s office in Boston. Why isn’t deranged Jack Smith looking at that? Also, I supplied them openly, and without question, security tape from Mar-a-Lago. I had nothing to hide, nor do I now. Nobody said I wasn’t allowed to look at the personal records that I brought with me from the White House. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
Only time will tell whether the DOJ will hold Biden and Clinton accountable for their apparent mishandling of sensitive government documents.
