The latest news on Donald Trump’s indictment on federal charges
Former President Donald Trump has been indicted by a federal grand jury in connection. With his allege mishandling of more than 100 classified documents.
The indictment was made public just before 2 p.m. ET. Trump faces 37 counts on seven charges, including false statements, conspiracy to obstruct and willful retention of national defense information.
Trump’s personal aide Walt Nauta was also indicted on six counts. Including conspiracy to obstruct and false statements. Nauta’s lawyer decline to comment.
Trump’s GOP critics take aim after indictment is unseale
Special counsel Jack Smith urged the public to read the indictment to “understand the scope and the gravity of the crimes charged.”
The investigation began last year when the National Archives alerted the FBI that government documents Trump had returned after having been out of office for about a year included 184 that were marked classified. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.
Trump and his allies have tried to make the indictment about President Joe Biden, but Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland have sought to insulate themselves from the case.
Trump’s GOP critics take aim after indictment is unseale
Trump is not the only politician to have problems with classified documents. Part of his argument that he is being treated unfairly is that Biden has not also been indicted. But the way Trump and Biden handled their classified documents is very different. Find out more here.
Live coverage of former President Donald Trump’s indictment continues here.
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Here are 11 key takeaways from the Trump indictment
Adam Edelman, Allan Smith and Amanda Terkel
Hiding documents in a shower. Showing national security secrets to a political aide and an author. And telling lawyers to simply not cooperate with a grand jury subpoena.
These are some of the allegations against Donald Trump in the bombshell federal indictment unsealed Friday, related to the more than 100 classified documents federal agents retrieved from the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in August.
Read the full story here.
GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski calls Trump charges ‘quite serious’
Frank Thorp V and Dareh Gregorian
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a Republican who’s butted heads with Trump in the past, said today that the charges against him “are quite serious and cannot be casually dismissed.”
“Mishandling classified documents is a federal crime because it can expose national secrets, as well as the sources and methods they were obtained through. The unlawful retention and obstruction of justice related to classified documents are also criminal matters,” the senator said in a statement.
“Anyone found guilty — whether an analyst, a former president, or another elected or appointed official — should face the same set of consequences,” she added.
With her statement, Murkowski joined Mitt Romney of Utah as one of the few Senate Republicans to emphasize the seriousness of the charges facing the former president.
In 2021, Murkowski and Romney were among the seven Republicans who voted to convict Trump at his second impeachment trial. Murkowski later defeated Trump’s hand-picked challenger for her Senate seat in 2022.
Nebraska Republican criticizes Trump post-indictment
Bridget Bowman
The alleged obstruction to the requests of the National Archives and FBI, if true, is inexcusable.”
“I’m the same person who criticized Hilary Clinton for knowingly and willfully storing thousands of classified emails on her unclassified computer, and thought the DOJ failed in holding her accountable. I believe in using the same standards and ask the DOJ to do the same. No one is above the law, and we demand due process and expect equality under the law.”
Bacon is one of 18 House Republicans representing a district Biden would have carried in 2020 had new congressional maps been in place at that time.
Chris Christie says ‘facts are devastating’ in Trump indictment
Dareh Gregorian
GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie tonight called the Trump indictment “very evidence-filled” and said “the facts are devastating.”
“It is bad for anyone in this country,” but especially for a former president who’s running for office, the former New Jersey governor told CNN in an interview. “Is this the type of conduct we want from someone who wants to be president of the United States?”
Christie, a former federal prosecutor, had decline to comment on the case. Thursday night before the indictment was unseale. “Let’s see what the facts are when any possible indictment is released,” Christie tweeted at the time.