UPDATE:
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Mark Sumner
ABC now has what seems to be a full list of reported charges and their potential penalties.
- Willful retention of national defense information (maximum penalty if convicted: 10 years)
- Conspiracy to obstruct justice (maximum penalty: 20 years)
- Withholding a document or record (maximum penalty: 20 years)
- Corruptly concealing a document or record (maximum penalty: 20 years)
- Concealing a document in a federal investigation (maximum penalty: 20 years)
- Scheme to conceal (maximum penalty: Five years)
- False statements and representations (maximum penalty: Five years)
UPDATE:
·
Mark Sumner
ABC News indicating more about the nature of the charges:
“We’re learning from our sources that there appear to be at least seven counts here. This ranges from everything from the willful retention of national defense information to conspiracy to a scheme to conceal, to false statements and representations.”
The last case featuring willful retention of national defense information appears to be the 2017 case of federal contractor Harold Thomas Martin III, who was sentenced to nine years in federal prison for taking home copies of defense information and keeping them in his house and car.
The federal grand jury empaneled by special counsel Jack Smith has handed down indictments to Donald Trump over his mishandling of classified documents which the FBI recovered from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. Trump is reporting the indictments on his failing Truth Social media platform, and the claim has been confirmed by multiple news sources. Reports indicate that Trump is facing seven charges, including illegal retention of classified documents, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice.
Trump repeatedly lied to both the National Archives and the FBI about the documents he was holding. He instructed his attorneys to say that all documents had been returned, when he knew this was untrue. He claimed that he had declassified the documents, when he knew this was untrue. He repeatedly obstructed the progress of the case including the long delaying tactic of insisting on a “special master” to evaluate the documents.
These indictments come from the newly seated grand jury in Miami, Florida, one of three grand juries that Smith has created to cover both the investigations into Trump’s document theft and his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. That investigation has also expanded into looking at how Trump has used both false claims around the election and claims about the investigations to scam his supporters out of millions.
Additional charges may still be pending.
Trump was the first to break the news of the indictment, once again making ludicrous claims about President Joe Biden and putting the whole thing off as a “hoax.”
It is happening. More details as they become available.
