Donald Trump was hit with a sweeping 37-count indictment from the special counsel’s office Thursday, alleging that he willfully retained documents containing the nation’s most sensitive secrets, including nuclear programs, after he left office, showed some of them on at least two occasions and then tried to obstruct the investigation into their whereabouts.
Federal prosecutors unsealed the indictment Friday against the former president and his aide Walt Nauta in connection with his handling of government documents.
Authorities stand outside Mar-a-Lago, the residence of former president Donald Trump, amid reports of the FBI executing a search warrant as a part of a document investigation, in Palm Beach, Fla., Aug. 9, 2022.
Cristobal Herrera Ulashkevich/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Read the full indictment here:
Trump is slated to be arraigned on Tuesday in a Florida federal court.
Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and criticized the Department of Justice and the U.S. attorney general’s office of conducting a political “witch hunt.”
The 49-page indictment includes several transcripts, images and other evidence that federal prosecutors claim Trump knowingly kept top secret documents and endangered national security.
Some of the classified documents that Trump allegedly held onto included nuclear secrets and defense capabilities of the U.S. and its allies, according to the indictment.
The indictment alleged, “Trump stored his boxes containing classified documents…in a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, an office space, his bedroom, and a storage room.”
Former President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference following his court appearance over an alleged ‘hush-money’ payment, at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., on April 4, 2023.
Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images
According to the indictment, Trump allegedly told his attorneys after he got a subpoena to return the documents, “I don’t want anybody looking through my boxes, I really don’t.”
He also asked, “What happens if we just don’t respond at all?”
“Wouldn’t it be better if we just told them we don’t have anything here,” the document says he asked.
Then, “Well look isn’t it better if there are no documents?”
Prosecutors also described an allegedly incriminating exchange between Nauta and an unnamed member of the Trump family – whom ABC News believes to be from sources is Melania Trump – shortly after Nauta removed dozens of boxes from their storage location inside Mar-a-Lago.
The indictment reads, “On May 30, 2022, at 12:33 p.m., a Trump family member texted NAUTA: Good afternoon Walt, Happy Memorial Day! I saw you put boxes to Potus room. Just FYI and I will tell him as well: Not sure how many he wants to take on Friday on the plane. We will NOT have a room for them. Plane will be full with luggage. Thank you!”
In this March 13, 2023, file photo, Walt Nauta, aid to former President Donald Trump, follows Trump as they board his airplane, known as Trump Force One, in route to Iowa, at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Fla.
Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images, FILE
Nauta replied, “Good Afternoon Ma’am [Smiley Face Emoji] Thank you so much. I think he wanted to pick from them. I don’t imagine him wanting to take the boxes. He told me to put them in the room and that he was going to talk to you about them,” the court documents said.
Special Counsel Jack Smith is slated to make a statement about the indictment at 3 p.m.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.