The indictment of former US president Donald Trump is full of evidence of an apparent crime, but it lacks one thing – a motive.
The indictment of former US president Donald Trump is full of evidence of an apparent crime, but it lacks one thing – a motive. Trump was charged with removing top secret documents from the White House and refusing to hand them back. He could have avoided charges – which bring up to 20 years in prison – if he had allowed National Archives officials to retrieve all the official government records last year. Pressed by the Archives, in January 2022 Trump handed over 15 boxes of documents from his Florida residence Mar-a-Lago, including favourite keepsakes like his personal letters from North Korea’s Kim Jong-un. Those boxes, it turned out, contained 197 classified defence and intelligence documents, sparking an FBI subpoena to get any other secret files that Trump may have taken to Mar-a-Lago. Trump’s lawyer found 38 more classified documents from a search of 30 boxes kept in a storeroom, and turned them over to the FBI on June 3, 2022, saying that was all. Trump retains his base with risk of political violence in focus In fact, another 34 boxes remained hidden. On August 8 the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago and found another 102 classified files, including 27 in Trump’s office.
