Donald Trump is facing fresh charges – and allegations that he asked a staff member to delete camera footage at his Florida estate in an effort to obstruct the federal investigation into his possession of classified documents.
His lawyers have also met with members of special counsel Jack Smith’s team ahead of a potential indictment over the former president’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Regarding the Mar-a-Lago documents, the updated indictment, unsealed on Thursday, adds new charges against the former president and names an additional defendant. The document includes new counts of obstruction and wilful retention of national defence information.
The charges relate to the classified records that were taken by Trump to Mar-a-Lago after he left the White House in January 2021. However, a Trump spokesperson dismissed the new charges as “nothing more than a continued desperate and flailing attempt” by the Biden administration “to harass President Trump and those around him” and to influence the 2024 presidential race.
Nonetheless, the updated indictment increases Trump’s legal jeopardy. The additional counts come after a year-long investigation into Trump that first produced charges last month in the form of a 38-count indictment against him and his valet, Walt Nauta.
The superseding indictment charges Trump with an additional count of wilfully retaining national defence information relating to the former president discussing US military plans to attack another country during an interview in July 2021 at his New Jersey golf club at Bedminster. The interview was for a memoir being written by his one-time chief of staff Mark Meadows, who in his subsequent book named the country as Iran.
According to the indictment, Trump returned that document, which was marked as top secret and not approved to be shown show to foreign nationals, to the federal government on January 17 2022. It marks a notable shift in the prosecution’s approach to Trump’s case, charging him for retaining a document it alleges the former president knew was highly sensitive after he left office — and not just for failing to return it to the government when asked.
Trump and Nauta have pleaded not guilty.
Regarding the possible 2020 election indictment, Trump said in a post on his Truth Social network: “My attorneys had a productive meeting with the DOJ this morning, explaining in detail that I did nothing wrong, was advised by many lawyers, and that an Indictment of me would only further destroy our Country.”
He added that “no indication of notice was given during the meeting”.
It was not immediately clear what was discussed at the meeting, though a similar sit-down with lawyers occurred in the days before Mr Trump was indicted last month on charges of illegally retaining classified documents. Thursday’s meeting included Mr Trump’s attorney John Lauro, said someone familiar with the case, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to describe a private gathering.
Mr Lauro said in a Fox News television interview last week that his client had done “nothing wrong”. The status of the secretive grand jury proceedings remained unclear despite building speculation that a criminal case could be near.
No indictment was filed on Thursday, though Mr Trump did face new charges in the classified documents case, with prosecutors accusing him of asking a staffer to delete security camera footage in an apparent effort to obstruct the investigation. Mr Trump, the front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, was informed earlier this month by Mr Smith’s office that he was a target of the Justice Department’s investigation, suggesting that an indictment could be soon.
The investigation has focused on the turbulent two-month period after the November 2020 election in which Mr Trump refused to accept his loss to Democrat Joe Biden and spread lies that victory was stolen from him. The turmoil resulted in the January 6 riot at the US Capitol, when loyalists to Mr Trump violently broke into the building, attacked police officers and disrupted the congressional counting of electoral votes.
More than 1,000 people have been charged with federal crimes related to that assault. In between the election and the riot, Mr Trump urged local election officials to undo voting results in their states, pressured then vice president Mike Pence to halt the certification of electoral votes and falsely claimed that the election had been stolen — despite the fact that numerous federal and local officials, a long list of courts, top former campaign staffers and even his own attorney general have all said there is no evidence of the fraud he alleges.
A spokesman for Mr Smith declined to comment on Thursday’s meeting. Mr Lauro did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. Mr Trump was charged by Mr Smith’s team last month with illegally hoarding classified documents at his Palm Beach, Florida, estate, Mar-a-Lago, and concealing them from investigators.
He was also indicted in New York in March on charges of falsifying business records in connection with an alleged hush money payment to a porn actor. And prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, are preparing to announce charging decisions in the coming weeks related to efforts to subvert the election in that state.
