It was billed as the gravest legal threat to Donald Trump and now we know why: He faces criminal charges that are sweeping in scope — and staggering in their severity.
An indictment unsealed Friday details 37 charges against the former U.S. president, related to national security for improperly stashing classified documents, showing them off, and then lying to authorities about them.
The potential risk to Trump extends far beyond his 2024 presidential run.
Put simply, in the words of a Fox News legal analyst, digesting on air what he referred to as a damning indictment: A conviction could result in Trump spending his final years in prison.
The case before a Florida court accuses Trump of storing secret information on U.S. nuclear programs, military vulnerabilities, and retaliation strategies of the U.S. and its allies — all kept at a property being visited by tens of thousands of people: Trump’s Mar-a-Lago dwelling and club.
They were stored in a bathroom, a ballroom, his bedroom, a shower, and a storage room. Some even sat scattered on the floor, including one document belonging to Five Eyes, the intelligence alliance that includes Canada.
They were stored in a bathroom, a ballroom, his bedroom, a shower and a storage room. Some even sat scattered on the floor, including one document belonging to Five Eyes, the intelligence alliance that includes Canada.
Documents were stored in a bathroom and other places at Mar-a-Lago. Sometimes they were mixed with newspaper clippings. Authorities allege sheets spilled out of boxes in this storage closet, including one secret document belonging to the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, which includes Canada. (U.S. Department of Justice)
The indictment further accuses Trump of improperly showing off these documents — to writers working on a book and to an ally in a political action committee.
In these conversations, federal authorities say, Trump explicitly stated that he knew he shouldn’t be showing these documents, a potentially incriminating detail authorities will use in court.
One of those conversations was allegedly recorded.
“This is secret information. Look at this,” Trump was allegedly heard saying, speaking to authors working with his former chief of staff on a book.
“Isn’t that incredible? … As president, I could have declassified it. … Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”
He allegedly showed those authors details of a military attack plan against an undisclosed country, which U.S. media reports say involved Iran.
A staff member interjected, according to the indictment, to say: “Now we have a problem.”
Former U.S. president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate is seen on June 8, 2023, in Palm Beach, Fla. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Potentially, it turns out, a serious problem.
Several of the alleged crimes carry a maximum of 20 years in prison. The counts range from violations of the Espionage Act for wilful retention of defence documents, to corruptly concealing public records, to obstruction of justice.
In a months-long cat-and-mouse game with federal officials, the indictment says Trump instructed aides to hide documents, making comments like, “Wouldn’t it be better if we just told them we don’t have anything here?”
As he unsealed the 49-page indictment Friday, special counsel Jack Smith, the prosecutor, invited members of the public to explore it before making up their minds about the case.
“I invite everyone to read it in full to understand the scope and the gravity of the crimes charged,” Smith said in a brief media appearance.
The charging document accuses Trump of imperilling the country’s security, relations with foreign allies and human sources who work to collect intelligence.
Smith insisted his process was independent and apolitical, with the charges approved by a grand jury. He sought to pre-empt inevitable accusations that it amounts to a partisan political hit: “Our nation’s commitment to the rule of law sets an example for the world.”
Mindful of the looming presidential election, he promised to seek a speedy trial.
Special Counsel Jack Smith speaks to the media at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., on Friday, announcing the unsealing of the indictment against former U.S. president Donald Trump. Trump was indicted Friday on 37 counts in the Mar-a-Lago documents case, accused of keeping top secret files on U.S. nuclear and weapons programs and defence plans after leaving the White House. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
The former president had announced Thursday he’d been indicted and ordered to appear in a Miami court next Tuesday.
As with all things Trump, chaotic news has kept coming: In the span of hours, Trump declared an aide, Walt Nauta, will also be charged; announced a shakeup of his legal team as some lawyers resigned for unstated reasons; and most — but not all — top Republicans furiously closed ranks around him.
“I’m an innocent man,” Trump said in a video late Thursday. “This is warfare for the law. We can’t let it happen.”
So the breaker of political barriers is about to bust a new one. The first president to be impeached twice. He recently became the first ex-president charged with a crime. On Friday, he became the first ex-president charged twice, and the first charged with federal crimes.
ABC News reports that the judge assigned to the initial hearing has a history with this case; Aileen Cannon is the same Trump-appointed judge who sided with him earlier in procedural decisions that slowed the investigation, until she was overturned and criticized by an appeals court.
This is the gravest legal threat Trump has ever faced, the one most likely to rattle his political comeback and imperil his freedom. It’s in a different legal league than his earlier arrest this spring on New York state charges of hush money payments to hide a sexual affair.
Even some vocal Trump critics questioned that earlier arrest, calling those charges weak. His former attorney general, Bill Barr, called it a miscarriage of justice.
Trump and William Barr, his attorney general, arrive at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., on Sept. 1, 2020, after a trip to Kenosha, Wis. (Evan Vucci/The Associated Press)
Barr views this case differently.
“I’ve said for a while that I think this is the most dangerous legal risk facing the former president,” Barr told CBS earlier this week, speaking of the documents investigation.
“From what I’ve seen there’s substantial evidence there.… There’s no excuse for what he did here.”
Trump argues he had the right to take the documents and, if he’s charged, why wouldn’t President Joe Biden be too, given his own mishandling of numerous classified documents?
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
