Donald Trump, sued for his negligent handling of state secrets after leaving the White House, on Tuesday (June 13) called his earlier formal indictment in federal court in Miami a “heinous abuse of power.” In front of his supporters gathered at his golf club in New Jersey, he accused his Democratic successor Joe Biden of being “corrupt” and of attacking his “main political opponent”.
“This is election interference,” said the Republican, 2024 presidential candidate. Hours earlier in Miami, the 70-year-old former president had pleaded not guilty to the charges against him – paving the way for a historic and potentially very damaging trial for his campaign for the 2024 US presidential election.
The Republican is accused of endangering the security of the United States by keeping confidential documents, including military plans or information on nuclear weapons, in a toilet or storage room of his luxury residence in Mar-a-Lago , in Florida. He is also accused of having refused to return these documents despite court injunctions, which led to him being charged with “illegal retention of information relating to national security”, but also “obstructing justice” and ” false testimony”.
This is the first time that a former US president has been charged at the federal level. At the beginning of April, Donald Trump had already been charged with several accounting frauds by the justice of the State of New York, in connection with a payment made before the presidential election of 2016 to silence an actress of X movies who claims to have been his mistress. But this case in Miami seems more compromising.
In the United States, a law obliges presidents to transmit all their e-mails, letters and other working documents to the National Archives. Another, on espionage, prohibits keeping state secrets in unauthorized and unsecured places.
In January 2021, when he left the White House to settle in his luxurious Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, Donald Trump took away dozens of boxes full of files. According to the indictment, they remained stacked on the stage of a “ballroom” before being transported to a “store room” accessible from the swimming pool, where certain documents marked “secret defence” were seen sprawled on the ground.
In January 2022, after several reminders, he agreed to return boxes containing nearly 200 classified documents. Still convinced that it was missing, FBI agents had carried out a spectacular search at Mar-a-Lago on August 8 and seized about 30 other boxes, containing 11,000 documents.
The real estate mogul has always referred to the case as a “witch hunt” aimed at hampering his presidential candidacy. He accused President Joe Biden, whom he may face in 2024, of interference “and his gang of thugs.” According to one of his lawyers, Donald Trump should plead not guilty.
This hearing, with explosive political potential, raises security fears from Miami authorities, after calls on social networks to defend Donald Trump. “We take this event very seriously,” Florida Police Chief Manuel Morales said at a Monday press conference.
As after his appearance in New York in April, Donald Trump made an appointment with his followers in New Jersey the same evening, for a speech scheduled for 8:15 p.m. (2:15 a.m. Wednesday). During his last indictment, which had been the subject of dizzying media attention, the former occupant of the White House boasted of having raised millions of dollars from his supporters.
Many of them, convinced that he is the victim of a plot, continue to swear their support. Targeted by several other investigations, Donald Trump is probably not done with legal problems. A Georgia prosecutor is due to announce the outcome of her investigation into his pressure to try to change the 2020 presidential election by September.
The criminal trial of the former president in New York should be organized in early 2024, right during the Republican primaries, of which he is currently the big favorite.