According to media reports, the former US President has pleaded “not guilty” to the historic charges against Donald Trump in the affair over the handling of secret government documents. The broadcaster CNN and the Washington Post reported this on Tuesday from the meeting of the competent court in Miami. According to reports, Trump’s attorney, Todd Blanche, spoke for his client.
The meeting took place behind closed doors, cameras and other electronic devices were not allowed. The current Republican presidential candidate Trump had to appear in person before the court in the state of Florida to present the allegations against him. It is the first time a federal indictment has been filed against an ex-president.
In August, the Federal Police FBI searched Trump’s private home Mar-a-Lago in Florida and confiscated numerous classified documents from his tenure, some with the highest classification level. Mar-a-Lago is also a club with rooms for paying guests and public events. By storing confidential government documents in private rooms after his term in office, Trump could have made himself liable to prosecution.
He is accused of conspiring to obstruct investigations and illegally storing highly sensitive information. According to the indictment, these included details of the nuclear capabilities of the United States and other countries, military weaknesses in the defenses of the United States and its partners, and information about potential military action.
The indictment charges Trump with seven misdemeanors and 37 felonies. The details in the 49-page paper are explosive. For example, it states that Trump kept boxes of classified information in his bedroom, a bathroom, a shower, a ballroom and a storage room. Some boxes would have stood temporarily in a room where public events were taking place. A storage room was easily accessible via a public pool area.
In the indictment, the investigators detail how Trump spoke to other people about classified information or showed it to unauthorized third parties, based on audio recordings, among other things.
Trump vehemently rejects all allegations and sees the charges as a politically motivated attempt by the Democrats to keep him from a second term in the White House. Trump speaks of “political contract killing” and “waging war” with legal means.
The Republican officially announced last November that he would run again in the 2024 presidential election. According to polls, he is clearly ahead in the field of Republican presidential candidates. President Joe Biden is running for a second term for the Democrats.
Trump had already been charged at the state level in New York in April in connection with hush money payments to a porn star – this was the first charge against an ex-president ever. With the document affair, the first federal charges against a former president followed within a few weeks. Other cases against Trump are also under investigation. So far, the allegations in connection with the secret government documents have weighed the most heavily from a legal point of view.
Several hundred supporters of the Republican gathered outside the courthouse on Tuesday to protest the indictment. They cheered Trump upon his arrival. Some critics of the ex-president also came. Radical supporters of Trump had previously adopted martial tones, sparking fears of possible violence surrounding Trump’s court appearance. At first, however, there were no incidents.
Note: This article has been updated.
