The Atlantic

Trump’s Indictment Reveals a National-Security Nightmare

Republicans are trying to gaslight America about the former president’s astounding recklessness.
In a handout photo provided by the U.S. Department of Justice, stacks of boxes are seen in a bathroom and shower in the Mar-a-Lago Club’s Lake Room at former President Donald Trump’s estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice via Getty

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Former President Donald Trump, along with one of his aides, has been indicted for federal crimes involving highly sensitive national-security documents. Trump and his enablers are already trying to brush the charges away as the result of a witch hunt over a minor issue, but this indictment shows why Trump was, and remains, a threat to national security.

Defiant Recklessness

Special Counsel Jack Smith has successfully petitioned to unseal the indictment of Donald Trump and his aide Walt Nauta on multiple charges revolving around Trump’s removal of classified material from the White House and his belligerent refusal to return them. The charges include making false statements, conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding and concealing records, and willful retention of national defense information in violation of the Espionage Act.

When Trump learned of the indictment yesterday, he and his devoted coterie of Republican apologists, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, got right to work trying to minimize the charges as a politically motivated Trump, felt the need with the most notorious Florida Man now facing justice. As my colleague David Frum , this is about as sincere as the grief at a Mafia funeral, but the fact that DeSantis and others feel the need to placate such paranoia is indicative of how unhinged the GOP base has become.

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