What is there to know, and what’s next?

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Former President Donald Trump has been indicted on three additional counts in a case accusing him of illegally possessing secret documents at his Mar-a-Lago mansion, charges that add new details to the criminal case initially issued last month.

Here’s a look at the charges, the special counsel’s investigation, and how Trump’s case differs from those of other politicians known to have classified documents in their possession:

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WHAT ARE THE NEW CHARGES?

There are three new charges against Trump, as well as a new defendant in the case.

Prosecutors accuse the former president of trying to “alter, destroy, mutilate or conceal evidence” and inducing another person to do so. They say Trump asked a staffer — Carlos De Oliveira, a manager at Mar-a-Lago — to delete footage from security cameras at his Florida mansion in an attempt to obstruct the federal investigation into his possession of secret documents.

Prosecutors allege that De Oliveira conspired with Trump and his butler, Walt Nauta, to hide the recording from investigators.

A third count also accuses Trump of knowingly withholding national defense information related to a presentation about military activity in another country.

Investigators say Trump showed a classified document during a July 2021 meeting at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club to the writer and editor of the autobiography of Mark Meadows, his former chief of staff. Details about that document and the meeting were included in the original indictment, but none of the charges had been linked to it until now.

Trump had returned that document to the government on January 17, 2022, nearly a year after leaving office, according to the indictment.

The former president was indicted last month on 37 counts related to the mishandling of secret documents. The charges include accusations of withholding classified information, obstructing justice and making false statements, among other crimes.

Trump is accused of withholding documents related to “nuclear weapons in the United States” and the “nuclear capabilities of a foreign country,” along with documents from White House intelligence briefings, including some detailing US military capabilities and from other countries, according to the complaint. Prosecutors alleged that Trump showed off the documents to people who did not have security clearances to see them, and then tried to hide them from his own lawyers as they tried to comply with federal demands to find and return documents.

The main charges carry a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

After leaving office in 2021, the former president showed someone working for his political action committee a map detailing a military operation in a foreign country, prosecutors allege in the document. On another occasion that year, Trump showed a military attack plan to a writer, an editor and two of his employees, none of whom had security clearance.

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HOW HAS TRUMP REACTED?

A statement from the Trump campaign dismissed the new charges as “nothing more than a continuing, desperate and failed attempt” by the Joe Biden administration to “harass President Trump and those around him” and influence the race for election. presidency in 2024.

In an interview Thursday night with Breitbart News, Trump called the new allegation “harassment” and repeated his insistence that his activities were “protected under the Presidential Records Act.”

Trump and a dozen other Republicans who want to clinch the 2024 presidential nomination attended a Republican event in Iowa on Friday.

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WHATS NEXT?

De Oliveira is due to appear in court in Florida on Monday.

Both Trump and Nauta have pleaded not guilty to the original 38-count indictment.

His trial is currently scheduled for May 20, 2024 — well into the presidential nomination calendar, and likely long after the Republican nominee is known — and it is unclear whether the addition of a new defendant could result in a postponement.

Prosecutors, who wanted the case to go to trial in December, wrote in a separate court filing Thursday that the new charges “should not alter” the May trial date, “and the Office of the Special Prosecutor is taking related action. with discovery and security clearances to make sure it doesn’t.”

Trump’s lawyers have ensured that he cannot have a fair trial before the 2024 election.

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HOW DID THIS CASE COME?

Officials from the National Archives and Records Administration contacted Trump representatives in the spring of 2021 when they realized important material from his period in office was missing.

Under the Presidential Records Act, White House documents are considered property of the United States government and must be preserved.

A Trump representative told the National Archives in December 2021 that presidential documents had been found at Mar-a-Lago. In January 2022, the National Archives recovered 15 boxes of documents from Trump’s Florida mansion, later informing Justice Department officials that they contained “a lot” of classified material.

That May, the FBI and the Justice Department issued a subpoena for the remaining secret documents in Trump’s possession. Investigators who went to the property weeks later to compile the records received roughly three dozen documents and an affidavit from Trump’s lawyers certifying that the requested information had been returned.

But that claim turned out to be false. With a search warrant in hand, federal officials returned to Mar-a-Lago in August 2022 and seized more than 33 boxes and containers with a total of 11,000 documents from a warehouse and an office, including 100 classified documents.

In all, approximately 300 confidentially-sealed documents — including some top-secret documents — have been recovered from Trump since he left office in January 2021.

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HOW WAS A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR INVOLVED?

Last year, United States Attorney General Merrick Garland tapped Jack Smith, a veteran war crimes prosecutor with experience in public corruption investigations, to lead investigations into the presence of classified documents at Trump’s Florida mansion. , as well as key aspects of a separate investigation involving the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol and efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Smith’s appointment was an acknowledgment by Garland of the politics involved in an investigation into a former president and current White House candidate. Garland himself was selected by Biden, with whom Trump wants to run for the White House in 2024.

Special prosecutors are appointed in cases where the Justice Department perceives itself to be in a conflict of interest or when it is considered in the public interest for someone outside the government to enter a case and take responsibility for a matter.

According to the Code of Federal Regulations, a special prosecutor must have “a reputation for integrity and impartial decision-making” as well as “a thorough understanding of criminal law and Department of Justice policies.”

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DIDN’T BIDEN AND FORMER VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE HAVE CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS TOO?

Yes, but the circumstances of their cases are vastly different from those involving Trump.

After secret documents were found at the Biden-Penn Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement and at Pence’s home in Indiana, his lawyers notified authorities and quickly arranged for them to be released. They also authorized other searches by federal authorities to search for additional documents.

There is no indication that either man was aware of the documents’ existence before they were found, and no evidence has emerged so far that Biden or Pence tried to prevent their discovery. That’s important because historically the Justice Department looks at intent when deciding whether to file criminal charges.

A special prosecutor was appointed this year to investigate how classified materials ended up at Biden’s home in Delaware and his former office. But even if the Justice Department finds that his case is subject to evidence-based prosecution, his Office of Legal Counsel has concluded that a president is immune from prosecution for as long as he is in office.

As for Pence, the Justice Department informed his legal team this month that it would not file criminal charges against him for his handling of the documents.

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WILL A FEDERAL IMPEACHMENT STOP TRUMP FROM RUNNING FOR PRESIDENCY?

No. Neither the indictment itself nor a guilty plea would prevent Trump from running or winning the presidency in 2024.

And, as his indictment this year in New York — in a case of secret payments to hush up finger pointing — showed, criminal charges have historically boosted his fundraising enormously. The campaign announced it had raised more than $4 million in the 24 hours after that indictment was made public, breaking its previous record after the FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club.

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Meg Kinnard is in http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP