Former President Donald J. Trump has been charged by a grand jury with a total of seven counts, including willfully retaining national defense secrets in violation of the Espionage Act, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and making false statements.
It is a crime to retain national security documents without authorization and to fail to deliver them to a government official entitled to take custody of them. To obtain a conviction, prosecutors must show that Mr. Trump knew he was still in possession of the documents after leaving the White House and failed to comply when the government asked him to return them.
It is a crime to agree with another person to break a law, and prosecutors would need to show that Mr. Trump had a meeting of the minds about committing a specific crime and that one of them took some step toward that goal.
It is a crime to conceal records to obstruct an official effort and the penalty is up to 20 years per offense. Prosecutors would need to show that Mr. Trump knew he still had files subject to the efforts by the National Archives and Records Administration and intentionally caused his subordinates to fail to turn them all over.
Making a false statement to a law enforcement officer about a fact material to the officer’s investigation is also a crime, carrying a penalty of up to five years per offense. Prosecutors could charge Mr. Trump if they can show that he conspired with or induced another person to lie to the Justice Department or induced his lawyers to unwittingly lie.
Possible additional charges could include mishandling official documents, and contempt of court, which is a crime to willfully disobey a court order. Prosecutors would need evidence showing he knew he was still holding onto other files with classification markings.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/MarketBlogImage-final-6ac06c7b9250446a8e86c566b11e02e1.png "Markets Information, Sept. 20, 2024: Dow Ekes Out Recent Document; S&P 500 Retreats Following Fed-Fueled Rally")
