The Indictment against Donald Trump with regard to documents at Mar-a-Lago has been unsealed. Read it below. (Pdf. here)
[More to follow]
Some excerpts:
6. On two occasions in 2021, TRUMP showed classified documents to others, as
follows:
a. In July 2021, at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey(“The Bedminster Club”), during an audio-recorded meeting with a writer,a publisher, and two members of his staff, none of whom possessed asecurity clearance, TRUMP showed and described a “plan of attack” thatTRUMP said was prepared for him by the Department of Defense and asenior military official. TRUMP told the individuals that the plan was”highly confidential” and “secret.” TRUMP also said, “as president I couldhave declassified it,” and, “Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”b. In August or September 2021, at The Bedminster Club, TRUMP showed arepresentative of his political action committee who did not possess asecurity clearance a classified map related to a military operation and toldthe representative that he should not be showing it to the representative andthat the representative should not get too close.
7. On March 30, 2022, the Federal Bureau oflnvestigation (“FBI”) opened a criminal
investigation into the unlawful retention of classified documents at The Mar-a-Lago Club. A
federal grand jury investigation began the next month. The grand jury issued a subpoena requiring
TRUMP to tum over all documents with classification markings. TRUMP endeavored to obstruct
the FBI and grand jury investigations and conceal his continued retention of classified documents
by, among other things:
a. suggesting that his attorney falsely represent to the FBI and grand jury thatTRUMP did not have documents called for by the grand jury subpoena;b. directing defendant WALTINE NAUTA to move boxes of documents toconceal them from TRUMP’s attorney, the FBI, and the grand jury;c. suggesting that his attorney hide or destroy documents called for by thegrand jury subpoena;d. providing to the FBI and grand jury just some of the documents called forby the grand jury subpoena, while claiming that he was cooperating fully;ande. causing a certification to be submitted to the FBI and grand jury falselyrepresenting that all documents called for by the grand jury subpoena hadbeen produced-while knowing that, in fact, not all such documents hadbeen produced.
* * *
24. In January 2021, as he was preparing to leave the White House, TRUMP and his
White House staff, including NAUTA, packed items, including some of TRUMP’s boxes.
TRUMP was personally involved in this process. TRUMP caused his boxes, containing hundreds
of classified documents, to be transported from the White House to The Mar-a-Lago Club.
25. From January through March 15, 2021, some of TRUMP’s boxes were stored in
The Mar-a-Lago Club’s White and Gold Ballroom, in which events and gatherings took place.
TRUMP’s boxes were for a time stacked on the ballroom’s stage, as depicted in the photograph
bdow (redacted to obscure an individual’s identity).
26. In March 2021, NAUTA and others moved some of TRUMP’s boxes from the
White and Gold Ballroom to the business center at The Mar-a-Lago Club.
* * *
32. In May 2021, TRUMP caused some of his boxes to be brought to his summer
residence at ;rhe Bedminster Club. Like The Mar-a-Lago Club, after TRUMP’s presidency, The
Bedminster Club was not an authorized location for the storage, possession, review, display, or
discussion of classified documents.
* * *
47. When.interviewed by the FBI in May 2022 regarding the location and movement
of boxes before the production to NARA, NAUTA made false and misleading statements as set
forth in Count 38 of this Indictment, including:
a. falsely stating that he was not aware of TRUMP’s boxes being brought toTRUMP’s residence for his review before TRUMP provided 15 boxes toNARA in January 2022;b. falsely stating that he did not know how the boxes that he and TrumpEmployee 2 brought from TRUMP’s residence to the commercial truck fordelivery to NARA on January 17, 2022, had gotten to the residence; andc. when asked whether he knew where TRUMP’ s boxes had been stored ,before they were in TRUMP’s residence and whether they had been in asecure or locked location, NAUTA falsely responded, “I wish, I wish Icould tell you. I don’t know. I don’t-I honestly just don’t know.”
48. When the 15 boxes that TRUMP had provided reached NARA in January 2022,
NARA reviewed the contents and determined that 14 of the boxes contained documents with
classification markings. Specifically, as the FBI later determined, the boxes contained 197
documents with classification markings, of which 98 were marked “SECRET,” 30 were marked
“TOP SECRET,” and the remainder were marked “CONFIDENTIAL.” Some of those documents
also contained SCI and SAP markings.
* * *
52. On May 11, 2022, the grand jury issued a subpoena (the “May 11 Subpoena”) to
The Office of Donald J. Trump requiring the production of all documents with classification
markings in the possession, custody, or control of TRUMP or The Office of Donald J. Trump.
Two attorneys representing TRUMP (“Trump Attorney 1” and “Trump Attorney 2”) informed
TRUMP of the May 11 Subpoena, and he authorized Trump Attorney 1 to accept service.
53. On May 22, 2022, NAUTA entered the Storage Room at 3:47 p.m. and left
approximately 34 minutes later, carrying one ofTRUMP’s boxes.
54. On May 23, 2022, TRUMP met with Trump Attorney 1 and Trump Attorney 2 at
The Mar-a-Lago Club to discuss the response to the May 11 Subpoena. Trump Attorney 1 and
Trump Attorney 2 told TRUMP that they needed to search for documents that would be responsive
to the subpoena and provide a certification that there had been compliance with the subpoena.
TRUMP, in sum and substance, made the following statements, among others, as memorialized
by Trump Attorney 1:
a. I don’t want anybody looking, I don’t want anybody looking through myboxes, I really don’t, I don’t want you looking through my boxes.b. Well what ifwe, what happens ifwe just don’t respond at all or don’t playball with them?c. Wouldn’t it be better ifwe just told them we don’t have anything here?d. Well look isn’t it better if there are no documents?
* * *’
58. Between TRUMP’s May 23 meeting with Trump Attorney 1 and Trump Attorney
2 to discuss the May 11 Subpoena, and June 2, when Trump Attorney 1 returned to The Mar-aLago
Club to review the boxes in the Storage Room, NA UTA removed-at TRUMP’ s directiona
total of approximately 64 boxes from the Storage Room and brought them to TRUMP’s
residence, as set forth below: …
* * *
62. In sum, between May 23, 2022, and June 2, 2022, before Trump Attorney 1 ‘s
review of TRUMP’s boxes in the Storage Room, NAUTA-at TRUMP’s direction-moved
approximately 64 boxes from the Storage Room to TRUMP’ s residence and brought to the Storage
Room only approximately 30 boxes. Neither TRUMP nor NAUTA informed Trump Attorney 1
of this information.
* * *
69. The next day, on June 3, 2022, at Trump Attorney 1 ‘s request, Trump Attorney 3
signed a certification as the custodian of records for The Office of Donald J. Trump and took it to
The Mar-a-Lago Club to provide it to the Department of Justice and FBI. In the certification,
Trump Attorney 3-who performed no search of TRUMP’s boxes, had not reviewed the May 11
Subpoena, and had not reviewed the contents of the Redweld folder-stated, among other things,
that “[b ]ased upon the information that [had] been provided to” her:
a. “A diligent search was conducted of the boxes that were moved from theWhite House to Florida”;b. “This search was conducted after receipt of the subpoena, in order to locateany and all documents that are responsive to the subpoena”; andc. “Any and all responsive documents accompany this certification.”
70. These statements were false because, among other reasons, TRUMP had directed
NAUTA to move boxes before Trump Attorney 1 ‘s June 2 review, so that many boxes were not
searched and many documents responsive to the May 11 Subpoena could not be found-and in
fact were not found-by Trump Attorney 1.
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