Donald Trump indictment: Classified documents dumped in bathroom, ballroom and bedroom

The federal court in Florida said that Trump kept the classified documents inside his bathroom, a ballroom and his bedroom at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.

Hyderabad: Former US President Donald Trump, who has been indicted for allegedly keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, stacked the documents inside his bathroom, a ballroom and his bedroom, reports said. Pictures have gone viral on social media showing large cartons and cardboard boxes purportedly containing the classified documents at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence.

In one of the pictures, the cardboard boxes allegedly containing the classified documents can be seen tucked to the ceiling of a room. In another picture, the boxes are tucked between a toilet and a shower. The former US President was recently indicted on 37 charges including keeping classified US documents of the Pentagon, CIA, National Security Agency and other intelligence bodies after he left the White House in January 2021.

According to the indictment order, the classified documents Trump illegally stacked at his residence included “information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries, United States nuclear programs, potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack; and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack”.

"The unauthorized disclosure of these classified documents could put at risk the national security of the United States," the judge said. Trump's indictment in the Mar-a-Lago documents case comes three months after he was charged in New York with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The case came to light after officials of the National Archives and Records Administration in spring 2021 asked Trump representatives to explain the missing key documents material from Trump's time in office.

In Dec. 2021, the presidential records had been found at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence which the National Archives retrieved in Jan. 2022. The National Archives later told the Justice Department that the seized documents contained a lot of classified material. According to the Presidential Records Act, White House documents are considered property of the U.S. Government, which must be preserved.