What We Know About Trump’s 37 Count Indictment in the Classified Documents Case

According to an indictment that was released on Friday, former US president Donald Trump is accused of sharing a confidential map relating to a military operation and describing a Pentagon “plan of attack.” He also allegedly discussed a number of other sensitive papers, including a classified “plan of attack” document.

It is the first time in American history that a former president has been indicted by the federal agency he previously presided over. If Trump is found guilty, he might go to jail.

The 49-page indictment paints a damning picture of how Trump handled confidential information, accusing him of deliberately ignoring Justice Department requests that he return records he had taken to Mar-a-Lago from the White House and even ordering aides to assist him in concealing the records the government was looking for.

The charge is the Justice Department’s first formal acknowledgement of a criminal case against Trump resulting from the storage of many papers at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

Walt Nauta, a Trump assistant who was seen on tape at Mar-a-Lago taking boxes out, was charged alongside Trump.

The indictment charges Trump with inappropriately taking hundreds of boxes, many of which contained sensitive material, from the White House and transporting them to Mar-a-Lago.

It has obviously serious legal repercussions, including the potential for incarceration if Trump is found guilty.

However, it also has significant political ramifications. It may upset a Republican primary that Trump had been leading and put GOP supporters and party leaders to the test once again by asking them to support a man who has already been charged twice and may be hit with further accusations.

It also prepares the ground for a spectacular trial that will revolve on allegations that a man who was once in charge of protecting the country’s most closely-guarded secrets knowingly and unlawfully hoarded classified material after leaving government.

Trump is now in even more legal danger as a result of the case. He has already been charged in New York and is already the subject of other investigations in Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

But of the several inquiries he has faced, legal professionals and Trump’s own advisers have long seen the Mar-a-Lago inquiry as the most dangerous threat and the most likely to result in criminal charges.

Since Trump’s lawyers were informed that he was the subject of the investigation, campaign staffers had been preparing for the consequences, anticipating that it was only a matter of time until charges were filed.