Donald Trump to be charged soon in documents case

Former US President Donald Trump has been notified that he is under criminal investigation for illegal possession of classified documents found on his estate in Florida. According to Politico, citing informed sources, the prosecutor’s office sent a corresponding letter to Trump. The fact of sending such a letter means that the situation is serious and the special prosecutor Jack Smith, who is investigating the case, may soon bring charges against the former president, the publication explains.

The ex-president took the secret documents to his estate in Florida after the end of his presidential term in 2020. Subsequently, Trump voluntarily handed over these documents to the national archive, but the FBI decided to search his residence anyway. It was held in August 2022. As The Wall Street Journal reported at the time, agents collected four sets of top secret documents, three sets of “secret” documents, and three sets of “confidential.” Trump himself said that they were all declassified and that he could hand over these documents voluntarily, without a search, which was “optional” and was part of the Democrats’ plan to keep him out of the presidential election in 2024.

There have been accusations against Trump before. In May 2023, Trump was found guilty by a jury in a civil lawsuit filed by writer Elizabeth Carroll. A New York District Court jury concluded that in 1996, Trump touched Carroll against her will and then slandered her in an attempt to disprove her testimony. The defamation incident occurred in 2019, when an excerpt from Carroll’s book in which she described Trump’s violent actions was published in New York Magazine. Then Trump said that Carroll thus wants to draw attention to his book, and accused her of lying. The rape charge that the writer brought against Trump was rejected by the jury, sentencing the ex-president to Carroll’s fines of $2 million for harassment and $3 million for defamation. On April 4, 2023, the ex-president was accused of forging the financial documents of the Trump Organization in the payment of money to former pornographic actress Stormy Daniels in 2016, when she was about to reveal her connection with Trump; the trial in this case has not yet taken place.

This is not the first investigation against Trump, but every time he manages to turn them to his own advantage, says Lev Sokolshchik, a researcher at the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the National Research University Higher School of Economics. All previous accusations did not have a serious impact on his political career, so it can be assumed that the documents case will not have a critical impact on his election campaign. The expert suggests that the hype around this case, on the contrary, will benefit the ex-president. Trump is a shocking figure with great experience as a showman, so it is likely that he will use the hype around the documents case to increase his own ratings with his nuclear electorate. As for the Democrats’ involvement in the cause, Trump’s personality has remained unacceptable for them since 2016. And given that the ex-president is one of the Republicans’ favorites in the upcoming elections, the struggle between him and the Democrats promises to be sharp and fierce, sums up Sokolshchik.

The development of the document case clearly demonstrates how the United States is entering the most acute political crisis in the memory of the current generation, said Vladimir Vasiliev, chief researcher at the Institute for the US and Canadian Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The accusations against Trump are serious, and although the ex-president’s lawyers believe that they can break up the case in court, the option of accusing and arresting Trump cannot be ruled out either. In this case, continues Vasiliev, the ex-president will turn to his supporters for help and mass riots may begin in the United States. The political underpinnings of the case are obvious to Trump supporters, and attempts by Joe Biden and Democrats to talk about the legitimacy of the accusations against Trump will lead to a fall in their legitimacy in the eyes of Americans. On the other hand, the case against Trump is not a one-way game – Republicans have long been preparing their case against Biden’s son Hunter, who is accused of corruption. As a result, the pre-election struggle in the United States is becoming especially tough, Vasilyev concludes.