Special counsel urges Americans to read indictment of Trump to understand the "gravity of the crimes"
Special counsel Jack Smith speaks to reporters Friday, June 9, in Washington, DC. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
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.
“I invite everyone to read it in full to understand the scope and the gravity of the crimes charged," Smith said.
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.
NOW: Special counsel Jack Smith delivers remarks after Trump indictment unsealed
From CNN staff
Special counsel Jack Smith speaks on Friday, June 9. Pool
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.
4:45 p.m. ET, June 9, 2023
Trump attacks special counsel Jack Smith in his first comments since the federal indictment was unsealed
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.
3:00 p.m. ET, June 9, 2023
Prosecutors highlight Trump’s own public statements in indictment
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.
“In my administration, I’m going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information,” Trump said in August 2016. “No one will be above the law.” “We can’t have someone in the Oval Office who doesn’t understand the meaning of the word confidential or classified,” Trump said in another campaign trail statement, according to the indictment.
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.
3:02 p.m. ET, June 9, 2023
Trump retained sensitive documents about national defense that required special handling, indictment says
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.
2:53 p.m. ET, June 9, 2023
Nauta lied to investigators about moving boxes to Trump's residence, according to indictment
From CNN's Jeremy Herb
Boxes are stacked in the storage room, in this photo included in Donald Trump’s federal indictment. US District Court/Southern District of Florida
Donald Trump aide Walt Nauta 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 in a federal indictment unsealed this afternoon.
Nauta falsely said he was not aware of documents being brought to Trump’s residence for his review before the former president delivered 15 boxes to the National Archives in 2022, the indictment alleges. But Nauta himself had helped move boxes from the storage room to Trump’s residence, according to prosecutors.
“When asked whether he knew where TRUMP's boxes had been stored, before they were in Trump’s residence and whether they had been in a secure or locked location, Nauta falsely responded, ‘I wish, I wish I could tell you. I don't know. I don't — I honestly just don't know,’” the indictment states.
The indictment says that between November 2021 and January 2022, Nauta and another Trump employee brought boxes from the Mar-a-Lago storage room to Trump’s residence at the former president’s direction.
2:52 p.m. ET, June 9, 2023
Trump suggested to attorneys after subpoena that they tell DOJ they had no documents, indictment says
From CNN's Tierney Sneed
When lawyers for former President Donald Trump met with him to discuss how to respond to a May 2022 subpoena seeking documents marked as classified at Mar-a-Lago, Trump allegedly suggested to them they should tell the Justice Department that they had no materials that needed to be turned over, according to the new unsealed federal indictment.
“I don't want anybody looking, I don't want anybody looking through my boxes, I really don't, I don't want you looking through my boxes,” Trump said, as recounted by the indictment, which cited how one of the attorneys had “memorialized” the conversation. “Well what if we, what happens if we just don't respond at all or don't play ball with them?” Trump is alleged to have said. The indictment also quotes Trump as allegedly saying, “Wouldn't it be better if we just told them we don't have anything here?” and, “Well look isn't it better if there are no documents.”
Prosecutors are pointing to the comments to explain the charges they are bringing, alleging that Trump sought to conceal documents being sought in a federal investigation.
While the Trump team ultimately turned over some documents in response to the May subpoena, weeks later the FBI conducted a search of Mar-a-Lago and found about 100 more records with classified markings.
Read an excerpt from the indictment:
2:44 p.m. ET, June 9, 2023
Indictment details how many documents the FBI seized and their level of classification
From CNN's Devan Cole
A photo of pages from the federal indictment against former US President Donald Trump. Cody McCloy/CNN
The indictment unsealed Friday against former President Donald Trump details how many documents the FBI seized when it executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago on August 8, 2022, as well as what kind of classification markings the documents had.
FBI agents seized 27 documents from Trump’s office, according to the indictment. Of those, six were marked “Top Secret,” 18 were marked “Secret” and three were marked “Confidential.”
A total of 75 documents were seized by FBI agents from a storage room at the estate. Of those, 11 were marked “Top Secret,” 36 were marked “Secret” and 28 were marked “Confidential,” the indictment says.
3:06 p.m. ET, June 9, 2023
Trump indictment tracks movement of boxes around Mar-a-Lago
From CNN's Hannah Rabinowitz
Boxes of classified documents are stored inside a bathroom and shower inside the Mar-a-Lago Club’s Lake Room in this photo included in Donald Trump’s federal indictment. US District Court/Southern District of Florida
The federal indictment unsealed Friday tracks how boxes were moved throughout Mar-a-Lago after former President Donald Trump moved to his Florida club after he left the White House.
Boxes were initially stored in a ballroom at Mar-a-Lago, prosecutors alleged, before Trump aide Walt Nauta moved some of the boxes to a business center at the estate in March 2021.
According to the indictment, two people who worked for Trump discussed over text message whether they were able to move boxes holding classified documents.
Boxes were then allegedly moved to a bathroom.
In May, Trump allegedly directed that a storage room, which was accessible from several outside entrances — some of which were often kept open — be cleaned out for his boxes. The next month, more than 80 boxes were moved into the storage room.
