Donald Trump will be the first president formally charged with committing a crime following an indictment issued by Alvin Bragg, Manhattan District Attorney.
Trump has been charged with obstruction in connection with classified documents and the “hush money” payment to Stormy Daniels.
After a May subpoena was issued, the FBI raided Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Florida estate in June 2022.
They were looking for classified documents that Trump had refused to return to the archives.
According to a Washington Post story published last week, Donald Trump ordered boxes of classified materials to be moved from Mar-a-Lago by employees to his Bedminster, New Jersey estate before the FBI raid.
If Trump did order employees to move documents before the FBI raid, that would establish that he had both knowledge and intent, meaning he knew the law and violated it anyway.
Two Mar-a-Lago employees helped Walt Nauta, a valet driver for Trump, pack an SUV with boxes at Mar-a-Lago. The two employee’s lawyer, John Irving, said the employees were unaware of the contents of the boxes that were being moved to the Bedminster Estate in New Jersey.
One official noted, “If the FBI knew documents had been moved to Bedminster, wouldn’t they have already raided it too?”
Ryan Goodman, a former special counsel for the Department of Defense, said the Trump offenses would become much more severe if he did move documents to another location to avoid the FBI discovering them.
A Trump spokesman, Taylor Budowich, claimed that the Biden Administration fabricated the document hoax and weaponized law enforcement to retain political power.
Donald Trump has dismissed the allegations of wrongdoing regarding classified documents and described the reports as a “specifically targeted and politically motivated witch hunt.”
According to Tristan Snell, a former assistant attorney general of New York State, the FBI may still raid the Bedminster Estate. Snell claimed a raid might still be on the FBI’s to-do list. He said these things take time to work through the legal system.
