Former US president Donald Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner whose efforts to cling to power after his defeat shook American democracy, was booked on federal criminal charges that he illegally retained defence secrets and obstructed the government’s efforts to reclaim the classified documents.
Trump, the first president, former or current, to be indicted by a grand jury in the country’s 247-year history, arrived at the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. US Courthouse in downtown Miami on Tuesday afternoon (local time). His co-defendant and personal aide, Walt Nauta, also surrendered.
In the 37-count indictment unsealed on Friday, the former president was described as showing off classified information to visitors, haphazardly storing boxes of secret papers around Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate, and lying to and obstructing federal investigators.