Federal justice has informed Donald Trump that he has been personally targeted in an investigation into the White House archives, a new ordeal for the former US president who hopes to win a new mandate in 2024.
According to several US media including CNN and “The New York Times”, federal prosecutors have informed Donald Trump’s lawyers that the investigation is no longer limited to those close to the former president, but also targeting him personally.
sequel after announcement
United States: Republican primary candidates caught in Trump’s trap
He is accused of keeping boxes full of documents, including some classified documents “extremely confidential”After leaving Washington in 2021 and refusing to return them, in violation of federal law.
The US media did not say when the former president would be briefed, but his lawyers met with Justice Department officials on Monday, including Special Prosecutor Jack Smith, who is tasked with independently overseeing the investigation.
Donald Trump, who is currently far ahead of other candidates for the Republican nomination, has always defended himself against any embezzlement and presents himself as a victim. “political persecution”. How can the Department of Justice hold me accountable when I did nothing?He wrote Monday on the Truth Social Network when his lawyers were greeted by ministry officials.
floral rug
In the United States, a 1978 law requires all American presidents to send all their letters, emails, and other business documents to the National Archives. Another espionage law prohibits anyone from keeping confidential documents in unauthorized and unsecured places.
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“Trumpism will outlive Trump”: Seeing the attack on the Capitol from inside
After leaving the presidency to settle into his lavish Mar-a-Lago residence, Donald Trump took home boxes full of files. In January 2022, after several reminders, he agreed to return 15 boxes containing more than 200 confidential documents. His lawyers confirmed in a letter afterwards that there were no others.
After examination, the Federal Police estimated that it was not all back and that he still kept a lot of it in his Palm Beach club. FBI agents went there on August 8, and seized about thirty more boxes, containing 11,000 documents, some of them very sensitive about Iran or China.
His attorneys vigorously denounced a media operation, and his attorneys sharply criticized the FBI for publishing, in their view, a photograph showing seized documents sealed with words. “extremely confidential”scattered on a floral pattern rug.
To hush up the conspiracy charges, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Special Prosecutor Jack Smith to oversee the investigation, in addition to another role in Donald Trump’s role in the Capitol attack.
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Cost
Another special prosecutor is investigating parallel classified documents his lawyers found earlier this year in the former office and home of Democratic President Joe Biden.
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These embarrassing revelations, along with others from former Vice President Mike Pence, have allowed Donald Trump to lessen his conduct, even though Joe Biden has always cooperated with justice, returning documents voluntarily, in much smaller numbers.
The Republican platform also used his rival’s revelations to rally his supporters who, every time justice struck him, closed the ranks around him. This was particularly the case in April, when he was indicted by a New York state court for falsifying accounting documents related to a $130,000 payment to pornographic actress Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 election, in exchange for his silence on a supposed case. It was the first time in American history that a former president faced criminal charges.
Donald Trump accused, America plunges into the unknown
Georgia’s attorney general, who has been investigating months of Republican pressure to try to overturn the 2020 presidential election, is set to announce the results of her investigation by September.
