Trial against Trump − in the middle of the election campaign

USA

The trial against Trump begins next spring - clashes with the election campaign  

 

Nelly Kronstrand  

 

Updated 16:58 | Published at 3:39 p.m  

 

News  

 

The trial date for Donald Trump is set. 

 

The ex-president is accused of taking classified documents from the White House and will stand trial in May 2024.  

 

Which clashes with Trump's campaign for the upcoming US presidential election. Trump was also in the courtroom in April.  

 

Trump was also in the courtroom in April. Photo: Seth Wenig/AP  

 

Thousands of documents were seized during a search of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Largo residence in Florida in August 2022.  

 

Now the trial date has been set for the former US president - who is on trial over allegations of  mishandling classified documents during and after his time in the White House.

 

Trump waits for the 2024 

 

presidential election On May 20, 2024, Trump will appear in court. This was announced by the federal judge in Florida, Aileen Cannon, during Friday.  

 

The decision on the trial date is a compromise between the prosecution and Trump's defense, reports CNBC. 

 

Prosecutors wanted to start a trial as early as December, while Trump's defense pleaded to delay the trial until after the presidential election in November next year.  

 

Charged with 37 counts  

 

Donald Trump is charged on 37 counts for having kept documents with information about the defense capabilities of the United States and other nations, as well as about the United States' own nuclear weapons program.  

 

According to the indictment, Trump also allegedly showed classified documents on two occasions to other people.  

 

Trump denies wrongdoing. 
 

FACTS  

This has happened - according to the indictment 

 

January 20, 2021: Donald Trump's last day as president 

 

In connection with the 45th president of the United States leaving the White House, he has boxes of documents sent to his private residence at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. The boxes contain letters, photos and newspaper clippings - but also hundreds of classified documents. 

 

May 2021 The US National Archives discovers that documents from Trump's presidency are missing and requests that he hand over any documents he may have brought with him. The request is repeated several times. But the documents are not returned.

  

June 2021 The National Archives is threatening to turn to the Department of Justice if Trump does not comply with the call. 

 

July 2021 Trump allegedly showed a military "attack plan" that he himself says is "top secret" to a writer visiting to interview him at home.  

 

August/September 2021 Trump allegedly showed a classified map linked to military operations abroad to an associate in his campaign organization. 

 

December 2021 Walt Nauta, co-indicted as Trump's aide, discovers that several boxes have collapsed and documents are scattered across the floor of a storage room. He sends a picture of the mess to a colleague - it clearly shows that at least one of the scattered documents is marked "SECRET".  

 

January 2022 After further pressure from the National Archives, Trump hands over 15 boxes with 69 documents marked "secret", 98 marked "secret" and 30 "top secret".

  

February 2022 Trump's campaign organization describes the return of the secret documents as "a small matter". The National Archives does not agree and hands the matter over to the Ministry of Justice. 

  

March & April 2022 The FBI begins an investigation. Just under a month later, a grand jury begins its investigation. 

 

August 2022 After several months of trying to get Trump to hand over all the boxes of documents, the Department of Justice is granted permission to search Mar-a-Lago. When the FBI searches the property, a total of around 13,000 documents are seized - 102 of them classified.  

 

June 8, 2023 A grand jury in Miami indicts Trump and Walt Nauta. Trump broke the news on his social media platform "Truth social", calling it "a dark day for America" and claiming his innocence. He also says that he will prove his innocence "very, very clearly and hopefully very quickly".  

 

June 9, 2023 The 37-count indictment against Trump is made public. Undertaker Walt Nauta is indicted on six counts. Trump is suspected of over 30 violations of the Espionage Act and of having "attempted to obstruct justice". 

June 13, 2023 At 3 p.m. (local time), Trump is expected to make a first appearance in federal court in Miami.  

(TT)  

 

FACTS 

 

More legal cases against Donald Trump  

The accounting violations 

 

34 counts of indictment against Donald Trump who are accused, among other things, of having ordered payments to people who threatened to release sensitive information about him in connection with the 2016 presidential election campaign. The trial is scheduled for March 2024. 

 

The 2020 election – the storming of Congress 

 

Federal prosecutors are investigating allegations that Donald Trump and his advisers tried to change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. 

A special committee of the House of Representatives has previously recommended that Trump and advisers be prosecuted for having exerted pressure on the outcome of the election. The House of Representatives investigation included an examination of the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.  

 

State of Georgia  

 

An investigation is underway into the phone call Donald Trump made to Georgia Chief Election Officer Brad Raffensperger, in which Trump wanted Republican Raffensperger to "find the 11,780 votes" needed for Trump to defeat Joe Biden in the state in the 2020 presidential election. Prosecutors have already warned Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani and several local Republicans that they face formal charges.  

 

State of New York 

 

New York State Attorney General Letitia James has sued the former president and his Trump Organization for misleading tax officials about the value of real estate and golf courses in order to get loans and tax breaks. James is seeking $250 million in damages. A civil case will begin in October. Prosecutors in Manhattan have investigated the same suspicions, but chose not to press charges.  

 

Allegation of rape 

 

In a civil lawsuit, a newspaper columnist claims she was raped by Donald Trump in the mid-1990s. At the trial that ended in May, the jury concluded that Donald Trump sexually assaulted her and that he was guilty of defamation, when he claimed that the columnist's statement was a lie made up to sell books.  

 

Trump was ordered to pay $5 million in damages, but has said he will appeal. 

 

(TT) 

  

 

1 / 2Photo: Meg Kinnard