Trump has reported that he is being personally targeted in the investigation of the White House archives

Federal prosecutors have told Donald Trump’s attorney that the former president was personally targeted in an investigation into the management of the White House archives, according to several US media outlets including CNN and The New York Times.

The new move, which opens the way for a possible indictment of the former US president, is an additional legal thorn for those hoping to win a new term in 2024. He is accused of keeping entire boxes of documents, including some classified as “defense secret,” after Leave Washington in 2021 and refuse to return them in violation of federal laws. US media does not say when the former president was briefed, but according to CNN, his lawyers met with Justice Department officials on Monday, including special prosecutor Jack Smith, who is tasked with independently overseeing the investigation.

Donald Trump, who is currently ahead of other candidates for the Republican nomination, has always defended himself against any embezzlement and presents himself as a victim. “political persecution”. How can the Department of Justice bring charges against me when I did nothing?He wrote Monday on the Truth Social Network when his lawyers were greeted by ministry officials.

11,000 documents, some of them very sensitive

In the United States, a 1978 law requires all American presidents to send all their letters, emails, and other business documents to the National Archives. Another espionage law prohibits anyone from keeping confidential documents in unauthorized and unsecured places. After leaving the presidency to settle into his lavish Mar-a-Lago residence, Donald Trump took home boxes full of files. In January 2022, after several reminders, he agreed to return 15 boxes containing more than 200 confidential documents. His lawyers confirmed in a letter afterwards that there were no others.

After examination, the Federal Police estimated that it was not all back and that he still kept a lot of it in his Palm Beach club. FBI agents went there on August 8, and seized about thirty more boxes, containing 11,000 documents, some of them very sensitive about Iran or China. His lawyers strongly denounced the media operation and severely admonished the FBI for publishing, in their view, a photo showing confiscated documents stamped “Top Secret”, scattering on a carpet with a floral pattern.

Embarrassing results

To hush up the conspiracy charges, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Special Prosecutor Jack Smith to oversee the investigation, in addition to another role in Donald Trump’s role in the Capitol attack. Another special prosecutor is investigating parallel classified documents his lawyers found earlier this year in the former office and home of Democratic President Joe Biden. These embarrassing revelations, along with others from former Vice President Mike Pence, have allowed Donald Trump to lessen his conduct, even though Joe Biden has always cooperated with justice, returning documents voluntarily, in much smaller numbers.

The Republican platform has also used his rival’s revelations to rally supporters who, every time justice strikes him, tighten the ranks around him. This was particularly the case in April, when a New York state judge accused him of falsifying accounting documents related to a $130,000 payment to pornographic actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election, in exchange for his silence on a supposed case. . It was the first time in American history that a former president faced criminal charges.

Georgia’s attorney general, who has been investigating months of Republican pressure to try to overturn the 2020 presidential election, is set to announce the results of her investigation by September.