president, who was criminally charged by a manhattan grand jury in march on 30 counts of business fraud. he s pleaded not guilty. now he is facing 37 federal charges relating to classified documents from his time in office that were uncovered by federal agents. a special counsel has been investigating this case since november of last year. what makes this situation even more extraordinary, is mr. trump is currently the frontrunner in the republican party for the 2024 election. this means he could be taking on president joe biden while a special counsel appointed by the attorney general is working to convict him. trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. over the next hour cnn s pamela brown lays out everything we know about this case and takes us through the twists and turns that brought us to this moment. we ll also explore what this means for the former president as he faces his first court appearance this week and what implications this may have for the presidential race
explaining no one is above the law, even a former president. our nation s commitment to the rule of law sets an example for the world. we have one set of laws in this country and they apply to everyone. and, jake, the special counsel also making the point today that violations of u.s. laws on classified documents put the country at risk. that s right, anderson. i want to bring in cnn s paula reid. walk us through the most damning allegations in the indictment in your view. this indictment tells a story of what investigators have learned over the past year and a half. they lay out how the former president allegedly willfully retained over 300 classified documents allegedly storing them around his mar-a-lago resort everywhere from a bathroom to a bedroom to a ballroom for over two months, that ballroom was activity hosting events touring this time. they also reveal how sensitive secrets meant over for a handful of our closest allies were splayed out in a storage room. t
ari melber starts right now. i m glad i let you go because i remember you have your own show to anchor. thank you. our thanks to nicolle wallace and the whole team there doing this cover nl. we continue the breaking coverage of the first ever federal indictment of a former president. today the justice department unsealed an indictment of defendant donald trump of 37 counts. we re covering this historic and unprecedented development with our legal experts who have been pouring over this 44-page indictment since it was first unsealed this afternoon. the nation heard from special counsel jack smith for actually the first time ever today. a prosecutor known for his work and today his actions, indicting the former president after about seven months on the job. and he spoke clearly and concisely about this indictment and national security crimes. today an indictment was unsealed charging donald j. trump with felony violations over national security laws, conspiracy to obstruc
states nuclear programs, potential vulnerabilities of the united states and its allies to plan military attacks, to military attack, and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack, end quote. according to the indictment, this is what donald trump did with those state secrets. for the first few months, some boxes to on the stage of an event space known as the white and gold ballroom before they were moved to the business center. then, some boxes were stored in a bathroom, stacked high above the marble floors, surrounding the toilet and blocking access to the bum, shower, not blocking access to the toilet. they were finally moved to a storage room in 2021, piled high along the walls of the room, but this case isn t just about mishandling the highly sensitive documents. the government also alleges the former presidents quote, endeavored to obstruct the fbi and grand darien vista geishas end quote. for a period of time, trump repeatedly ignored the fbi s order
prosecutors, jack smith s investigation of the documents continues right now. this is a special, live edition of the last word. the new york times is reporting tonight that the charges include willfully retaining national defense secrets and violations of the espionage act. making false statements, and an obstruction of justice conspiracy, according people familiar with the matter. donald trump has been ordered to surrender for arrest in processing an arraignment in the federal court in miami on tuesday at three pm. here s what donald trump s lawyer said on television tonight. this is not biblically accurate, because i m not looking at a charging document, i m looking at a summary sheet. so there is language in here that might be reflecting a single, counted set of two. but i think there was a conspiracy count as well. so that means that there could be other indictments. have you been told that anyone else is indicted here? we went advised of anyone else being indicted.