Former U.S. President Donald J. Trump on Thursday was indicted on three additional criminal charges related to his handling of classified U.S. material post-presidency, according to Special Counsel Jack Smith.
The charges include a fresh count of willfully retaining national defense information and two counts of obstruction, originating from alleged attempts to erase surveillance videos from Mar-a-Lago.
The deletion was allegedly instigated after Trump received a subpoena seeking materials in his custody from investigators.
In response to the new charges, the Trump Campaign issued a stern rebuttal on the same day.
“This is nothing more than a continued desperate and flailing attempt by the Biden Crime Family and their Department of Justice to harass President Trump and those around him,” the statement read.
The campaign didn’t hold back in its critique of Special Counsel Smith, characterizing him as desperate and disoriented.
“Deranged Jack Smith knows that they have no case and is casting about for any way to salvage their illegal witch hunt and to get someone other than Donald Trump to run against Crooked Joe Biden,” the campaign team added.
These additional charges intensify scrutiny on Trump’s actions following his tenure as president.
Nevertheless, his campaign maintains that the indictments are baseless and politically motivated.
Amid the ongoing legal wrangling, it is clear that Trump and his team are preparing for a staunch defense against what they see as a political vendetta led by the current administration.
“If I weren’t winning in the polls, they wouldn’t be doing it,” Trump said in a video, referring to the investigation against him. “If I weren’t running, they definitely wouldn’t be doing it.”
