Trump: I’m innocent
Trump is expected to turn himself in to authorities and appear in court in Miami, Florida next Tuesday, June 13. He protested his innocence on his own social media site Truth Social and with a video, stating that the “corrupt Biden administration informed my lawyers of my indictment.” Less than an hour after the publication of the indictment in the Mar-a-Lago secret papers case, Trump also took aim at Special Counsel Smith; “He’s deranged,” he wrote on Truth, accusing him of being a “hater” of him.
Change of lawyers
Also on his social media Truth, the tycoon announced that he will no longer be represented by Jim Trusty and John Rowley but by two studios, Todd Blanche Esq, and another whose name he will name in the coming days. “I have to face the greatest witch hunt of all time,” attacked the former president.
Smith’s case
The case was brought by Justice Department-appointed special prosecutor Jack Smith, who was cleared by a grand jury to indict. Cases of government documents with varying degrees of secrecy classification were found by the FBI during a search of Trump’s residence in Mar-a-Lago, after the former president had resisted their mandatory return to the national archives for months. Smith is also investigating Trump’s role in the January 6, 2021 assault on Congress and in an attempt to overturn the result of the last election for the White House.
Other open cases
Trump has already been indicted by the Manhattan prosecutor’s office – of 30 felonies – for a round of illicit payments on the eve of the previous vote in 2016 to prevent revelations about an affair with porn star Stormy Daniels. He is also still being investigated for attempts to manipulate the outcome of the Georgia polls in 2020.
The effect on the 2024 campaign
The new case hits Trump as he is once again running for the Republican nomination for the White House in view of the 2004 elections. A dozen conservative exponents have so far taken the field to become the party’s standard bearer in a clash with Democratic President Joe Biden, who will reappear for a second term. But so far Trump clearly leads his domestic rivals in polls among Republican voters and has not seemed to be affected by indictments and controversies.