Former President Donald Trump has been the subject of repeated investigations, and one of those is the accusations stemming from the documents in Trump’s possession at his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago. No charges have been made toward Joe Biden or other political figures also found to have government documents stored in their own homes.
Special Counsel Jack Smith has filed 37 counts against Trump, all pertaining to his alleged mishandling of “classified” documents. Trump has previously stated that the documents in his possession were all declassified by himself before he left the Oval Office, a prerogative of a sitting president.
The indictment states that Trump allegedly showed classified documents to individuals without the required security clearances on two occasions. According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), both incidents occurred at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, N.J.
Trump, however, has recently unveiled fresh revelations concerning a purported “secret document” that he previously mentioned in an audio recording, which has been at the core of the federal government’s indictment earlier this month.
Details regarding one of the alleged instances were leaked to CNN. Conservative Brief reports on the leaked information:
On June 2, the network disclosed that federal prosecutors had acquired an audio recording of a meeting held during the summer of 2021. In this recording, former President Donald Trump purportedly acknowledges retaining a classified Pentagon document related to a potential attack on Iran, which appears to undermine Trump’s earlier claim that he had declassified all relevant information before he left office.
The charges “include willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, 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,” ABC News reported.
But Trump has refuted this.
In a broad-based Fox News interview with Bret Baier this month, Trump said that he never showed anyone the classified U.S. military plan referred to in the audio recording to anyone.
Trump firmly maintained that he never revealed any classified military strategy for attacking Iran, which U.S. Army General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reportedly prepared. He went on to say that he never issued any orders to formulate such a plan.
The meeting in question per the indictment revolved around a book coming out written by a Trump staffer.
On July 21, 2021, the meeting took place at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, around six months after Trump’s presidency came to an end. In attendance were a writer, publisher, and two aides of the former president, and the main focus of the meeting revolved around a forthcoming book authored by Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff.
The indictment alleges that at the meeting, Trump said he found Milley’s “plan of attack.” But he denied ordering Milley to create such a plan and said it was a misconception. “I never ordered that to happen, no,” Trump told Baier.
Trump is not the only one who questions the allegations made in the indictment.
Former Trump administration officials have since gone public to say the “secret plan” of attack against Iran that Trump allegedly showed off in the summer of 2021 never actually existed, Conservative Brief stated.
This week, Trump gave an interview on the Simon Conway show. He was asked about he prospect of receiving a prison sentence, and how his supporters would respond to such an outcome.
“Is it something that concerns you of the people making sure that they don’t go out of their right mind if something like that happens, if that, for example, they do say — Jack Smith says, OK, I’m going to put Donald Trump in jail?’ the host asked.
Trump’s answer highlights the fact that his supporters do believe in the election interference he has claimed since the 2020 election. Not only have his supporters risen up in numbers since legal attacks have been levied at the former president, but as his supporters believe all the charges are false, there would be an outcry if he was found guilty of any of these charges.
“I think it’s a very dangerous thing to even talk about because we do have a tremendously passionate group of voters, much more passion than they had in 2020 and much more passion than they had in 2016,” he said, adding, “I think it would be very dangerous.”
“They’re trying to cheat on an election by doing this,” Trump added. “It’s election interference.”
Trump has openly posted repeatedly about the agenda behind the charges levied at him saying, “THIS WITCH HUNT IS ALL ABOUT ELECTION INTERFERENCE AND A COMPLETE AND TOTAL POLITICAL WEAPONIZATION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT! It is a very sad and dark period for our Nation!”
Trump continues,”…these are all Hoaxes and Scams made up to stop me from fighting for the American People – BUT I WILL NEVER STOP!”
