Speculations as to why former U.S. President Donald Trump kept classified documents in his home have been swirling after he was hit with a second indictment.
The shocking 37 charges were unsealed last week – the embattled Republican frontrunner expecting to plead not guilty to the claims – in a Miami court Tuesday.
The 49-page document detailing the charges does not establish Trump’s motive – begging many to question why he might have kept the top secret files.
Some have suggested the president kept the papers as trophies – like when he purchased the Plaza Hotel to impress then-wife Ivana – or to settle old scores with enemies.
Trump appeared in good spirits despite his legal woes, making his first public appearance since the indictment this weekend greeted by red capped MAGA supporters on a Tarmac in Georgia.
Former President Trump is facing down his second indictment and will plead not guilty at a Miami court on Tuesday
Maggie Haberman in the New York Times suggests the indictment ‘did offer some hints.’
She noted the indictment focuses on how Trump will often retaliate against those he feels have wronged him, noting that he showed off a a ‘plan of attack’ against Iran to fight back against criticism from chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark A. Milley.
Haberman – who has long covered the president and even written a book about him – also noted how Trump would use possessive language, calling the documents ‘my papers’ even after he’d left the White House.
‘I don’t want anybody looking through my boxes,’ the former president is quoted as saying, trying to stop lawyers from going through the documents. ‘I really don’t.’
She claims that several people close to Trump have said that he simply saw the records as ‘mine’ and even saw them as trophies to display.
They compared his hoarding of records to having purchased the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan as a ‘toy’ for then-wife Ivana, as well as showing off Shaquille O’Neal’s giant basketball show to impress guests.
Trump was legendary for presenting himself as a popular playboy as a bachelor who eventually settled down with so-called ‘trophy wives.’
His attitude toward the documents were similarly used to brag – he posted a classified photo of a failed Iranian rocket launch in 2019 and when challenged that they were supposed to remove the classification markings, he argued that was the ‘sexy part.’
Some have suggested the president kept the papers as trophies – like when he purchased the Plaza Hotel to impress then-wife Ivana – or to settle old scores with enemies
They compared his hoarding of records to having purchased the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan as a ‘toy’ for then-wife Ivana (pictured)
Trump was legendary for presenting himself as a popular playboy as a bachelor who eventually settled down with so-called ‘trophy wives.’
Donald Trump left classified documents scattered across his bathroom and the Mar-a-Lago ballroom and bragged to aides about taking military secrets, according to the stunning indictment unsealed by the Department of Justice on Friday
There is no reference in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation to Trump using the nation’s secrets for business purposes.
The 76-year-old on Thursday said he had been told he was being indicted in relation to espionage – the first time in U.S. history that a former president has faced federal charges.
Trump is facing four separate counts each carrying a potential prison time of 20 years: conspiracy to obstruct justice; withholding a document or record; corruptly concealing a document or record; and concealing a document in a federal investigation.
One count carries a 10 year sentence: willful retention of national defense information.
And the final two counts have a maximum of five years each: scheme to conceal, and false statements and representations. Trump’s indictment remains under seal, but his decision to publicize it means feds could unseal it as early as Friday, ahead of next Tuesday’s court appearance in Miami.
The news was met with outrage among the Republican party, with even his 2024 rival, Ron DeSantis, declaring that the ‘weaponization of federal law enforcement represents a mortal threat to a free society.’ DeSantis stopped short of saying whether he’d pardon his rival if Trump was convicted, despite calls for the Florida governor to commit to doing so.
Trump himself – who was in Bedminster, New Jersey when the charging news broke – condemned the indictment in a clip which The New York Times said was pre-recorded, saying it was political persecution, and said: ‘I am innocent.’
Trump is making his first public appearances this weekend at a rally in Georgia
Donald Trump supporters at the Columbus Airport, Columbus,Georgia, Saturday
Extraordinary new photos (above) revealed in the damning filing lay out how Trump valet Walt Nauta walked into a storage room and found intelligence files on allies including the United Kingdom and Australia spilled on the floor
In one photo, the cardboard boxes are seen stacked in front of a shower curtain and next to a sink in a Mar-a-Lago bathroom. Some of Trump’s aides simply called the files ‘his papers’
He will appear in court in Miami on Tuesday at 3pm, where the charges will be put to him. Trump denies all allegations he faces.
Jack Smith, the special counsel who is overseeing the investigation, has not commented.
He was indicted in Manhattan in April on state charges of making hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels – those state charges, too, were historic.
But the classified information charges are federal and significantly more serious, and carry hefty prison sentences.
Prosecutors have investigated the transfer of presidential files to his Mar-a-Lago Florida estate since last year.
The probe exploded into the headlines in August when the FBI searched Trump’s Florida home, recovering 11,000 documents, including about 100 that were marked as classified.
For his part, Trump has repeatedly insisted he did nothing wrong and that he is the victim of a federal witch hunt.
At times the controversy has even boosted his standing in the polls and allowed him to raise money from supporters who see a ‘deep state’ plot to take him out of the 2024 race.
‘The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been Indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax, even though Joe Biden has 1850 Boxes at the University of Delaware, additional Boxes in Chinatown, D.C., with even more Boxes at the University of Pennsylvania, and documents strewn all over his garage floor where he parks his Corvette, and which is ‘secured’ by only a garage door that is paper thin, and open much of the time,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday night.
‘I have been summoned to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday, at 3 PM. I never thought it possible that such a thing could happen to a former President of the United States, who received far more votes than any sitting President in the History of our Country, and is currently leading, by far, all Candidates, both Democrat and Republican, in Polls of the 2024 Presidential Election. I AM AN INNOCENT MAN!’
Later Thursday night, he put out a video.
‘Very sadly we’re a nation in decline and yet they go after a very popular president,’ Trump said.
‘I’m an innocent man, I did nothing wrong,’ he continued, vowing to ‘fight this out.’
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Trump also said he would ‘of course’ plead not guilty.
Security is already being increased around the courthouse in Miami ahead of his appearance before a judge, scheduled for 3pm on Tuesday.
The investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents is being overseen by a special counsel, Jack Smith, who was appointed by the Attorney General Merrick Garland in November.
