The indictment made public on Thursday apparently stems from an FBI raid of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence last August, when the federal government recovered more than 300 documents with classified markings, including some materials labeled “top secret,” seized months after Trump’s lawyers turned over 15 initial boxes of documents.
The special counsel has been investigating Trump’s handling of classified documents that were brought to Mar-a-Lago after he left the White House in 2021.
On Friday, CNN reported that Trump acknowledged on a recording in 2021 that he kept “secret” military information that he had not declassified. Trump has publicly claimed that all the documents he brought with him to Mar-a-Lago were declassified. POLITICO has not independently verified the recording of Trump reported by CNN.
“As president, I could have declassified, but now I can’t,” Trump said, according to the transcript obtained by CNN.
“Secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this,” Trump said, according to the transcript obtained by CNN. “This was done by the military and given to me.”
Trump is the first president in U.S. history to face federal criminal charges, though the indictment announced this week is not his first. Trump faced his first indictment earlier this year and pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in March. That New York grand jury indicted Trump over his alleged role in a scheme to pay hush money to an adult film actress during the 2016 presidential campaign in order to cover up an alleged affair, which Trump denies.
The former president also remains under investigation by special counsel Jack Smith for his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election as well as by prosecutors in Georgia over his attempt to overturn election results in that state.
Trump’s lawyer, in a separate interview with Fox News, said Trump’s second indictment is nothing more than a “political weapon to sideline a candidate.”
“None of this is a surprise to the actual people at Archives, but they have turned it into a political weapon to sideline a candidate,” Trump lawyer Jim Trusty said on “Fox and Friends” Friday. “There’s a lot that’s wrong on the merits of these potential charges or what seems to be the indictment. But the flip side, even before you get to that, is the misconduct.”