US Indicts Former President Donald Trump with Crimes
2023-06-10
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1A United States federal grand jury is charging former president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump with crimes linked to his possession of sensitive government documents.
2Trump is to appear in court in Miami, Florida, on Tuesday to hear the charges against him.
3The day will mark the first time a former president has been charged with a crime in a federal court.
4The indictment was released publicly Friday.
5Jack Smith is the Justice Department special counsel who filed the charges against Trump. Smith spoke to reporters after the indictment was opened.
6He explained the charges against Trump and said that the country has "one set of laws and they apply to everyone."
7Smith did not take questions at the press conference.
8Trump has said he is innocent and has done "nothing wrong."
9The indictment accuses Trump of 37 crimes.
10They include willfully holding national defense information, obstruction, false statements and plotting with another to carry out a crime.
11In March, a government lawyer in the state of New York charged Trump with 34 counts of criminally falsifying business documents.
12That indictment made Trump the first former president to face criminal charges.
13The Justice Department announced an investigation into Trump's keeping possession of government records in early 2022.
14The investigation started when the National Archives reported that Trump had hundreds of sensitive government documents at his home in Florida.
15Under U.S. law, presidential records belong to the government and must be given to the National Archive when a president leaves office.
16Trump is being accused of taking hundreds of records from the White House and sending them to his home at Mar-a-Lago.
17The National Archives demanded the documents from Trump's representatives in 2021 and received 14 containers of them in January 2022.
18The boxes contained more than 100 documents that are described as "classified."
19The National Archives then reported the discovery to the Justice Department, which started an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
20The Justice Department was leading the investigation through most of last year.
21In November, Trump announced that he would again be a presidential candidate.
22Attorney General Merrick Garland then appointed Jack Smith, a department lawyer, as a special counsel to carry out the investigation.
23Smith brought evidence to two grand juries in recent months.
24One in Washington, D.C. and another in Miami, Florida.
25A court ordered a number of witnesses to appear before the two groups, which decide whether charges can be brought.
26Smith is also investigating Trump in connection with the events that lead to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol building.
27A federal indictment would not disqualify Trump from competing in the 2024 presidential campaign.
28Experts say the former president could seek a return to office even if he is found guilty of charges.
29In January, the Justice Department named another special counsel, Robert Hur, to investigate the documents case of President Joe Biden.
30The documents are from at least the time when Biden was vice president.
31The documents were found last year at Biden's former Washington office and at his home in Delaware.
32Biden's lawyers have said there are few documents involved and that they were given to the government as soon as they were found.
33Experts suggest that failing to correctly deal with classified documents would be unlikely to cause federal officials to bring charges.
34Jordan Strauss is a former Justice Department official who is now with Kroll, a business risk adviser.
35He said there is a Justice Department policy saying that a current president cannot be indicted.
36Former Vice President Mike Pence has also been criticized for holding classified documents.
37And the Associated Press reported last year that the claim that former President Barack Obama took millions of documents when he left office was false.
38Answering a question about whether the Justice Department indictment of a competing presidential candidate was unfair, Biden said:
39"I have never once - not one single time - suggested to the Justice Department what they should do or not do, relative to bringing a charge or not bringing a charge. I'm honest."
40I'm Caty Weaver. And I'm Mario Ritter Jr.
1A United States federal grand jury is charging former president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump with crimes linked to his possession of sensitive government documents. Trump is to appear in court in Miami, Florida, on Tuesday to hear the charges against him. 2The day will mark the first time a former president has been charged with a crime in a federal court. 3The indictment was released publicly Friday. 4Jack Smith is the Justice Department special counsel who filed the charges against Trump. Smith spoke to reporters after the indictment was opened. He explained the charges against Trump and said that the country has "one set of laws and they apply to everyone." 5Smith did not take questions at the press conference. 6Trump has said he is innocent and has done "nothing wrong." 7The indictment accuses Trump of 37 crimes. They include willfully holding national defense information, obstruction, false statements and plotting with another to carry out a crime. 8In March, a government lawyer in the state of New York charged Trump with 34 counts of criminally falsifying business documents. That indictment made Trump the first former president to face criminal charges. 9Why are federal officials investigating Trump? 10The Justice Department announced an investigation into Trump's keeping possession of government records in early 2022. The investigation started when the National Archives reported that Trump had hundreds of sensitive government documents at his home in Florida. 11Under U.S. law, presidential records belong to the government and must be given to the National Archive when a president leaves office. 12Trump is being accused of taking hundreds of records from the White House and sending them to his home at Mar-a-Lago. 13The National Archives demanded the documents from Trump's representatives in 2021 and received 14 containers of them in January 2022. The boxes contained more than 100 documents that are described as "classified." 14The National Archives then reported the discovery to the Justice Department, which started an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 15How is a special counsel involved? 16The Justice Department was leading the investigation through most of last year. In November, Trump announced that he would again be a presidential candidate. Attorney General Merrick Garland then appointed Jack Smith, a department lawyer, as a special counsel to carry out the investigation. 17Smith brought evidence to two grand juries in recent months. One in Washington, D.C. and another in Miami, Florida. A court ordered a number of witnesses to appear before the two groups, which decide whether charges can be brought. 18Smith is also investigating Trump in connection with the events that lead to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol building. 19A federal indictment would not disqualify Trump from competing in the 2024 presidential campaign. Experts say the former president could seek a return to office even if he is found guilty of charges. 20Other documents cases 21In January, the Justice Department named another special counsel, Robert Hur, to investigate the documents case of President Joe Biden. The documents are from at least the time when Biden was vice president. 22The documents were found last year at Biden's former Washington office and at his home in Delaware. Biden's lawyers have said there are few documents involved and that they were given to the government as soon as they were found. 23Experts suggest that failing to correctly deal with classified documents would be unlikely to cause federal officials to bring charges. Jordan Strauss is a former Justice Department official who is now with Kroll, a business risk adviser. He said there is a Justice Department policy saying that a current president cannot be indicted. 24Former Vice President Mike Pence has also been criticized for holding classified documents. And the Associated Press reported last year that the claim that former President Barack Obama took millions of documents when he left office was false. 25Answering a question about whether the Justice Department indictment of a competing presidential candidate was unfair, Biden said: 26"I have never once - not one single time - suggested to the Justice Department what they should do or not do, relative to bringing a charge or not bringing a charge. I'm honest." 27I'm Caty Weaver. And I'm Mario Ritter Jr. 28Masood Farivar reported this story for VOA NEWS. Mario Ritter, Jr. adapted it for VOA Learning English with some additional material from Associated Press. 29____________________________________________________ 30Words in This Story 31obstruction -n. (legal) the act of blocking or trying to block legal officials from getting evidence that they are seeking 32conspiracy -n. (legal) a secret plan by two or more people to do something harmful or illegal 33indictment -n. (legal) the process of bringing charges before a court of law 34We want to hear from you. 35Here is how our comment system works: 36Each time you return to comment on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and replies to them. Our comment policy is here.