INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
WASHINTON: Donald Trump on Friday become the first former US president in history to face federal criminal indictment, stunningly, on a
range of espionage-related charges.If convicted on all seven charges brought against him by US justice department, ranging fromillegally
retaining classified documents after he left the White House to making false statements and conspiracy to obstruct justice, the 76-year-old
to charges that he had illegally carted boxed of classified material to his home in Mar-a-Lago
The former president maintains that he had declassified the material, not by any official decree, but simply by saying so, a defence the
justice department has rejected.He has been summoned to appear at the federal courthouse in Miami at 3pm Tuesday and he is expected to
Donald Trump indicted in classified documents probe"I never thought it possible that such a thing could happen to a former President of the
United States, who received far more votes than any sitting President in the History of our Country, and is currently leading, by far, all
Candidates, both Democrat and Republican, in Polls of the2024 Presidential Election," Trump lamented on his social media platform, adding in
all caps, "I AM AN INNOCENT MAN!"The stunning developments, first disclosed by Trump himself, convulsed American politics and were met with
incredulity, particularly by the Republican Party, which accused the White House of weaponising the law enforcement system
Presidential historians described it as a "seismic moment" in the country's history.01:25Historic Scandal: Ex-President Trump faces
shocking criminal charges - will he serve 100 years in prison?The GOP also began to close ranks behind the former president despite an
internecine fight for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination
Trailing Trump in the race, his main challenger, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, declared that the "weaponisation of federal law enforcement
The American people are exhausted by the prosecutorial overreach, double standards, and vendetta politics
said Trump had "brought these charges upon himself by not only taking classified documents, but by refusing to simply return them when given
President Joe Biden, accusing him of taking classified material, too, although legal experts say there are no parallels between the two."The
corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been Indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax, even though Joe Biden has
1850 Boxes at the University of Delaware, additional Boxes in Chinatown, D.C., with even more Boxes at the University of Pennsylvania, and
documents strewn all over his garage floor where he parks his Corvette, and which is 's ecured' by only a garage door that is paper thin,
and open much of the time," he wrote on Truth Social platform.On Friday morning, it emerged that the justice department based its case
partly on Trump's own admission in recordings it obtained that he had taken classified material, some of which relate to a possible attack
on Iran, from the White House.ABC News reported that Trump faces four separate counts each carrying a potential prison time of 20 years:
conspiracy to obstruct justice; withholding a document or record; corruptly concealing a document or record; and concealing a document in a
One other count carries a 10-year sentence: wilful retention of national defence information.
