Donald Trump’s legal woes worsened Thursday as special counsel Jack Smith hit him with additional felony charges in the classified documents case—two for obstruction of justice and one additional violation of the Espionage Act for sharing a classified war plan with people who did not have security clearance. Among the explosive allegations in the superseding indictment: that Trump and two employees tried to “delete” Mar-a-Lago security camera footage that the Justice Department had requested. “The boss” wanted the server erased, maintenance worker Carlos De Oliveira allegedly told a fellow employee in June 2022. “What are we gonna do?”
De Oliveira was charged in the new indictment, along with Trump and his “body man” Walt Nauta, who were originally indicted by Smith in the probe last month. Trump has denied all wrongdoing, insisting that he is the victim of a politically-motivated hit job by a “deranged” prosecutor and President Joe Biden. “This is nothing more than a continued desperate and flailing attempt by the Biden Crime Family and their Department of Justice to harass President Trump and those around him,” the former president’s campaign claimed Thursday. But even one of Trump’s former lawyers said Thursday that the evidence Smith presented in the new indictment makes the case against Trump even more damning. “I think this original indictment was engineered to last a thousand years and now this superseding indictment will last an antiquity,” attorney Ty Cobb told CNN.
“This is such a tight case,” Cobb added. “The evidence is so overwhelming.”
Trump became the first former president in American history to face felony charges when he was indicted in the Stormy Daniels hush-money case in the spring. Then, in June, Smith indicted him on 38 federal counts: The former president, according to that indictment, kept classified documents around his Mar-a-Lago residence—including in a bathroom and a ballroom—and showed them to individuals without security clearance. “This is secret information,” Trump allegedly said as he showed off an attack plan he retained after leaving office. “Look at this.”
Already facing dozens of felony charges, Trump is bracing for another potential indictment by Smith over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The former president and his allies have cast the legal threats as yet another conspiracy to damage Trump—the leading candidate for the 2024 Republican nomination—politically.
“Do you believe the end goal is to prevent Donald Trump from running for president in 2024?” Sean Hannity asked Republican Senator Lindsey Graham Thursday night.
“Absolutely,” Graham replied. “What other conclusion could you reach?”
Neither the indictments nor a conviction would prevent Trump from running, of course. But they have added a greater sense of desperation to the former president’s campaign, as he’s all but openly running in an effort to stay out of jail. “The case against him for illegally retaining classified information and for obstruction just got stronger,” Democrat Adam Schiff said Thursday. “A lot stronger.”
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