The 37-count indictment charging fat former President Trump and his minion Walt Nauta with their classified government document scam operation has been unsealed. The charges include 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information, and one count each of: conspiracy to obstruct justice (charged with Nauta); withholding a document or record; corruptly concealing a document or record; concealing a document in a federal investigation; scheme to conceal; and making false statements and representations.
The details listed are damning. The information Trump held in boxes in an unsecured closet at Mar-a-Lago contained massive amounts of information about American military capabilities and vulnerabilities, as well those of our allies and adversaries. Documents included information of intelligence resources, including human agents.
Other information included in the indictment indicate Trump showed some information to writers and editors, presumably working on Mark Meadow’s memoir, along with two members of Trump’s staff–none of whom had security clearances–during a recorded meeting in Bedminster in July 2021. Recordings show Trump knew the documents were still classified and yet showed them to the group.
A photo included in the indictment, taken from an unnamed cooperating witness, showing boxes of government documents, including classified material, being stored on a stage in Mar-a-Lago ballroom rented out for private events.
Trump again showed classified documents to someone without a security clearance: he shared a classified map detailing a military operation to a staffer of his PAC, commenting to the person that he should not show the map because of the sensitive nature of the document.
The details show Trump illegally held documents at Mar-a-Lago from seven national security agencies including old favorites like the CIA and NSA, but also more secretive groups like the National Geospacial Intelligence Agency and the National Reconnaissance Organization which specialize in highly-secret satellite and space-based collection methods. Trump had previously raised a furor within the intelligence community by tweeting out a highly-classified photo of a destroyed Iranian missile site without removing classified specs from the material.
Other evidence includes photos of boxes of government documents being stored at various places around the Florida supper club, including some being stored on a stage in Mar-a-Lago, as well as communications between working at the Florida supper club detailing moving other boxes from an unsecured business office to a closet.
Trump’s “body man” Waltine Nauta–yes, like a Saltine–is listed as having instructed multiple Mar-a-Lago employees to move boxes containing classified material to various places around the facility at various times. In one case, he photographed boxes that had fallen off shelves, spewing their contents on the floor, with files clearly marked with classification stamps on the files.
According to the “Penalty Sheets,” the listing of charges and maximum potential sentences, if found guilty of all charges, Trump could face a maximum of 100 years in prison and a $1.75 million fine. Nauta faces 90 years and a $1.5 million fine on six separate charges.