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Jun 14, 2023

Live updates: Federal indictment against Trump unsealed in the documents probe

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By Aditi Sangal, Elise Hammond, Matt Meyer, Adrienne Vogt and Tori B. Powell, CNN

Former Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger said the documents that former President Donald Trump is accused of mishandling were not over-classified.

He told CNN's Anderson Cooper Friday that he foresees the topic of "over-classification" becoming a talking point in defense of the former president following the special counsel's indictment.

While Kinzinger acknowledged that "we do have an over-classification problem" in the country, but he added that "these are not documents that are over-classified" in regard to the Mar-a-Lago probe.

From CNN's Kristen Holmes

Photos included in the unsealed indictment of Donald Trump show that the former president allegedly stored boxes of documents stored in places like a ballroom and a bathroom at Mar-a-Lago — many of those places are not locked, according to one Mar-a-Lago member.

"Once you are on property, you can really go anywhere. I do," the member said when asked about security in various parts of the club. "Being a private club, they really can't stop you from going into the public spaces."

In order to go onto the property, you must be a member or a guest of a member. Members have been known to use proximity to the former president as a draw to entertain clients and guests at the club, multiple sources told CNN.

This member said that the White and Gold ballroom — one of the rooms some of the boxes were kept, according to the indictment — is easily accessible to any guest.

Why this matters: The indictment alleges that Trump retained documents related to national defense that were classified at the highest levels — and some were so sensitive, they required special handling.

It includes one document found at Mar-a-Lago, which was classified as top secret and dated June 2020, "concerning nuclear capabilities of a foreign country," according to the indictment.

After the federal indictment against former President Donald Trump was unsealed Friday, special counsel Jack Smith said his office would seek a "speedy trial."

Special counsel Jack Smith said that US laws "apply to everyone" in remarks following the unsealing of the indictment of former President Donald Trump and one of his aides.

Smith also lauded the prosecutors in his office and said that the defendants in the case are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Special counsel Jack Smith urged Americans to read the indictment against former President Donald Trump that was unsealed Friday. it is the first time a former president has faced federal criminal charges.

He said that there are laws that protect national defense information that are "critical to the safety and security of the United States and they must be enforced."

"We have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone," Smith said, adding his office applied those laws and collected facts during the course of its investigation.

"That's what determines the outcome of an investigation. Nothing more and nothing less," he said.

You can read the 49-page indictment here.

From CNN staff

Special counsel Jack Smith is now speaking following the unsealing of the indictment of former President Donald Trump and one of his aides. Smith has been leading a months-long investigation into Trump's alleged mishandling of classified documents.

Trump faces 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information, according to the indictment, which marks the first time a former president has faced federal charges.

The indictment provides details about where Trump allegedly stored classified information and correspondence within his inner circle that prosecutors allege show that Trump sought to conceal documents being sought in a federal investigation.

Walt Nauta, the Trump aide that was also indicted Friday, lied to investigators when he was interviewed by the FBI in May 2022 for the probe into the former president's handling of classified documents, prosecutors allege.

What else to know: Smith, appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland, was tasked in November with looking into whether Trump or his aides committed crimes by taking classified documents to his Mar-a-Lago resort after he left the White House and whether they obstructed the investigation.

Prior to the indictment of the former president on Thursday, the probe escalated in recent weeks with several high-profile interviews and a former White House official telling prosecutors that Trump knew the proper process for declassifying documents and followed it correctly at times while in office, undercutting Trump's claims that he automatically declassified everything he took with him to Mar-a-Lago.

From CNN's Kristen Holmes

Former President Donald Trump attacked special counsel Jack Smith in his first comments after the federal indictment was unsealed Friday.

Trump attacks Smith as "deranged" and a "Trump Hater" who shouldn't be involved in any case "having to do with 'Justice,'" the former president said in a Truth Social post.

From CNN's Hannah Rabinowitz

As part of the indictment, prosecutors point to several of former President Donald Trump's public statements, illustrating how he understood how classified information was supposed to be handled under the law.

Several of the statements highlighted by prosecutors are from Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Trump repeatedly lambasted the mishandling of classified information and said that he would aggressively enforce laws surrounding their protection if elected.

The indictment also points to a statement that Trump made as president in 2018: "I have a unique, Constitutional responsibility to protect the Nation's classified information," he said.

Trump went on to say, according to the indictment, that "such access [to national secrets] is particularly inappropriate when former officials have transitioned into highly partisan positions and seek to use real or perceived access to sensitive information to validate their political attacks. Any access granted to our Nation's secrets should be in furtherance of national, not personal, interests."

CNN has previously reported that a former career White House official who was in charge of advising the Trump and Barack Obama administrations on the declassification process testified to the special counsel that Trump knew the proper process for declassifying documents and followed it correctly at times while in office.

From CNN's Zachary Cohen

Former President Donald Trump retained documents related to national defense that were classified at the highest levels — and some were so sensitive, they required special handling, according to the indictment.

It includes one document found at Trump's Florida Mar-a-Lago resort, which was classified as top secret and dated June 2020, "concerning nuclear capabilities of a foreign country," according to the indictment.

This document was not only classified as top secret, but also included additional restrictions of "ORCON" and "NOFORN."

Documents designated as ORCON cannot be disseminated outside of the department issuing it without approval. Those labeled NOFORN cannot be shared with foreign nationals.