Indictment Presents Evidence Trumps Actions Were More Blatant Than Known
The New York Times The accounts in the 49-page indictment reveal a shocking indifference toward some of the countrys most sensitive secrets.
If one theme emerged from the account presented by prosecutors in the indictment of former President Donald J. Trump that was unsealed on Friday, it was that even after months of relentless news reporting on the case, Mr. Trumps handling of classified documents was more cavalier and his efforts to obstruct the governments attempts to retrieve them more blatant than was previously known.
On nearly every one of its 49 pages, the indictment revealed a shocking example of Mr. Trumps indifferent attitude toward some of the countrys most sensitive secrets and of his persistent willfulness in having his aides and lawyers do his bidding in stymying attempts by the government to get the records back.
Mr. Trump will have an opportunity in court to rebut the account presented by the special counsel Jack Smith. But in the evidence cited in the indictment, there were references to government records being casually kept in a bathroom and on a ballroom stage at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence in Florida. There was also a description of a knocked-over stack of boxes lying in a storage room in the basement of the compound, their contents including a secret intelligence document spilled on the floor.
