Details revealed in indictment
The indictment alleged that, after the FBI subpoenaed former President Donald Trump, he "endeavored to obstruct the FBI and grand jury investigations and conceal his continued retention of classified documents by" actions including: suggesting his attorney falsely tell the FBI and grand jury that he didn’t have documents responsive to the subpoena; directing aide Walt Nauta to move boxes of documents to conceal them from Trump’s attorney, the FBI and grand jury; and causing a false certification to be submitted to the FBI and grand jury saying all documents were provided "while knowing that, in fact, not all such documents has been produced."
The indictment noted that between January 2021 and August 2022, Mar-a-Lago hosted more than 150 social events, including weddings and fundraisers "that together drew tens of thousands of guests."
The indictment mentions five of Trump’s statements in 2016, when still a candidate for president, including when he said in August 2016 that "in my administration I’m going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information."
According to the indictment, on June 2, an attorney for Trump went through the boxes in the storage room, removed 38 documents with classified markings, placed them in a redwood folder and sealed it with clear duct tape.
Trump allegedly asked, "Did you find anything?…. Is it bad? Good?" and they discussed what to do with the documents, according to prosecutors.
Trump's attorney said at that point Trump "made a funny motion as though- well okay why don't you take them with you to your hotel room and if there’s anything really bad in there, like, you know, pluck it out. And that was the motion that he made. He didn't say that."
According to the indictment, Trump and Nauta misled one of the Trump attorneys by moving boxes that contained documents with classified markings so that the attorney would not find the documents and produce them to a federal grand jury.
The indictment details how Nauta allegedly lied to FBI agents in May 2022 when he claimed to have no knowledge of the classified documents being brought to Mar-a-Lago.