Donald Trump, indicted by the federal justice, a first

Europe 1 with AFP 06:23, 09 June 2023, modified at 06:23, 09 June 2023

Donald Trump announced Thursday that he has been indicted by the federal justice for his management of the archives of the White House, a new pitfall for the Republican who dreams of reconquering the American presidency in 2024. "The corrupt Biden administration has informed my lawyers that I have been charged, presumably in the fake box case," he wrote on his Truth Social network in reference to the boxes of documents he took with him as he left Washington.

Seven counts

The billionaire, whose Florida home was raided last summer by FBI agents looking for these files, said he was summoned Tuesday to federal court in Miami. His lawyer Jim Trusty told CNN that his client would attend the summons, and that he was facing seven charges, including under an espionage law that prohibits keeping classified documents in unauthorized and unsecured locations.

Donald Trump, who is now the first former president in the history of the United States indicted by the federal courts, is also being prosecuted for obstruction of justice and perjury, he added. In March, he had already been charged with several accounting frauds by the New York State court in connection with a payment made before the 2016 presidential election to silence an actress of X movies, who says she was his mistress.

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The former real estate mogul, who is currently well ahead of the other candidates for the Republican nomination, has always defended himself from any wrongdoing and presents himself as a victim of "political persecution". "I am innocent, I have done nothing wrong," he said Thursday night in a video posted on Twitter, denouncing "electoral interference at the highest level".

"He will try to exploit this indictment"

Republican elected officials immediately closed ranks around him. "I stand, like all Americans who believe in the rule of law, with President Trump," said House Leader Kevin McCarthy. "This is a sad day for America," added Jim Jordan, who heads its Judiciary Committee.

Without being so categorical, billionaire Elon Musk, increasingly present in the political arena, said that "there seems to be more interest in prosecuting Trump than other politicians".

The Democrats, on the other hand, welcomed the news, while warning against Donald Trump's speech. "He's going to try to use this indictment for political gain, because winning the presidency may be his only way to avoid jail," Schiff said. In the United States, being indicted and even convicted of a misdemeanor or felony does not preclude being a candidate, elected or holding official office.

11,000 documents

In January 2021, when he left the White House to settle in his luxurious Mar-a-Lago residence, Donald Trump took away entire boxes of files. A 1978 law obliges all American presidents to transmit all emails, letters and other working documents to the National Archives.

A year later, after several reminders, he agreed to return 15 boxes, containing more than 200 classified documents. In a letter, his lawyers had then assured that there were no others. After examination, however, the federal police had determined that he had not returned everything and that he still kept many in his club in Palm Beach. FBI agents went there on August 8, and seized about thirty other boxes, containing 11,000 documents, some of them very sensitive, on Iran or China.

Strongly denouncing a media operation, his lawyers had strongly criticized the FBI for the publication of a photo showing seized documents stamped with the mention "Top Secret", scattered on a carpet with a floral motif.

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Donald Trump's setbacks will probably not stop there

To silence accusations of conspiracy, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed in November a special prosecutor, Jack Smith, to oversee this investigation independently, as well as another on Donald Trump's role in the storming of the Capitol. Another special prosecutor is also investigating classified documents found earlier this year in a former office and home of Democratic President Joe Biden by his lawyers.

These embarrassing findings, as well as others in former Vice President Mike Pence, have allowed Donald Trump to minimize the seriousness of his conduct, even if Joe Biden has always cooperated with justice, voluntarily returning the documents, in far smaller numbers.

However, this case is more serious, in substance, than that of New York. And Donald Trump's setbacks will probably not stop there. A Georgia state prosecutor, who has been investigating for months the pressure exerted by the Republican to try to change the result of the 2020 presidential election, must announce by September the result of her investigations.