The news that Donald Trump is once again making history for all the wrong reasons was broken not by his federal prosecutors, but by the former US president himself.
With a couple of carefully timed clicks of the “send” button, Trump announced on his Truth Social platform that he had become the first ever occupant of the Oval Office to face federal criminal charges. But he also simultaneously e-mailed his supporters, seeking to fundraise as a result of his latest legal predicament.
“The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been Indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax”, wrote Trump in his initial posting, saying that he had been “summoned to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday at 3pm”.
In all capital letters he insisted that “I AM AN INNOCENT MAN”, a clam that he also repeatedly voiced in an angry video released to his supporters less than an hour later.
The charges – reportedly seven of them – relate to allegations that Trump mishandled classified documents at the end of his presidency, carting boxes of them off to his Mar-A-Lago estate in Florida instead of handing them over to the National Archives where they properly reside.
It took months of legal wrangling for the National Archives to secure the documents’ return. Correctly surmising that Trump was still concealing some of the nation’s secrets in his Versailles-like home, federal authorities raided the building last August and unearthed even more of them.
The former president insists that he declassified the documents when he left the White House, although no normal processes appear to have been followed. The federal case will test – among other Trump claims – the notion that a former president can declassify national secrets “just by saying it’s declassified, even by thinking about it”.
The charges are far graver than those he already faces in New York relating to the hush money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, allegedly to silence her about their affair. They will also raise fresh questions about the wisdom of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in advancing those initial criminal charges against Trump, given the gravity of the claims the federal government is now making against him.
It’s reported that the most serious charge being brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith is conspiracy to obstruct justice, although it’s not yet clear with whom Trump is alleged to have conspired. Many legal analysts now expect charges to follow against at least one, as yet unidentified, co-conspirator. Trump is also accused of the willful retention of documents, and making false statements about those papers. If convicted of all charges, he could face decades in prison, though neither the indictment nor any conviction would prevent him from campaigning for the presidency next year.
As news of his indictment spread, Trump loyalists sought to control and frame the narrative. His lawyer, Alina Habba, took to right-leaning Newsmax TV to brand the charges “totally un-American”. She threatened a radical overhaul of America’s judicial system if Trump returns to the presidency. “If people don’t have faith in one of our fundamental institutions like this, we really cease to exist as the same country”.
“President Trump is 76 years old”, observed Fox News presenter Mark Levin on Thursday night. He told the network’s viewers “if the Department of Justice gets its way, he will die in federal prison”. In a furious 7-minute monologue, his temper got the better of him as he accused Attorney General Merrick Garland of being “a mob lawyer”, part of a team of Biden-controlled “bandits” who are leaving “a disgusting mark on American history”.
Shouting at the camera, he accused the White House of an insurrection aimed at derailing Trump’s frontrunner status in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. “What did he do with these documents?” yelled Levin. “Did he sell them to the enemy? No… did he burn them all? No, the government has all the documents back. But they throw the book at him?”
All of this was meticulously planned by the Trump team, who learned earlier this week that the indictment was imminent. It’s reported that Trump has even pre-produced a new campaign advertisement relating to the fresh charges that could be airing in key battleground states by the end of Friday.
Recognising Trump’s massive current lead in the race for the party’s presidential nomination, top figures within the party immediately rallied around him and pointed to the fact that no criminal charges have yet been brought against President Joe Biden over his own alleged mishandling of classified documents. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy called the indictment of Trump a “brazen weaponisation of power” and vowed to hold Justice Department officials accountable.
Rival presidential candidate Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida condemned “an uneven application of law depending upon political affiliation” and demanded to know why prosecutors are “so zealous in pursuing Trump yet so passive about Hillary or Hunter” (a reference to the president’s controversial son).
DeSantis and all the other candidates seeking to derail Trump’s presidential aspirations will anxiously wait to see whether the charges cement the former president’s support in place or begin the process of fracturing it. So far, the evidence suggests that Trump voters are unendingly loyal to him, and the charges in the Stormy Daniels case only led to a big surge in fresh support for him.
Now, the nation prepares for another Trump court appearance, this time in Miami next Tuesday just 67 miles from where the alleged crimes occurred. In the White House on Thursday, Biden – flanked by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak – insisted his hands were entirely clean. “I have never once, not one single time, suggested to the Justice Department what they should do or not do, relative to bringing a charge or not bringing a charge”.
Before departing the East Room, the President turned back to reporters and declared: “I’m honest”. But polls show a growing number of voters believe that there is a politicised dynamic to events that Trump gleefully characterises as fresh evidence of a witch-hunt against him.