A national security threat to his country

Donald Trump has been indicted on criminal charges of mishandling hundreds of classified documents after leaving the White House in 2021. This is the second time in a few months that the former US President has been indicted. In March, he was indicted in a New York state case involving hush-money payment to a porn star. This time, he has been slapped with a federal indictment for keeping official files at his Florida estate, including in a ballroom and a shower, and lying about it to investigators. The latest indictment is serious as it comes from the US Justice Department. The charges are serious as the files Trump hid were classified documents relating to the US nuclear programme, defence and weapons capabilities, its military vulnerabilities, and possible response in the event of an attack. Trump clearly put US national security at peril by storing classified documents in places that were hardly safe. Worse, he is said to have shown the documents to people not authorised to see them. If convicted, he could serve substantial prison time.

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Trump has denied the charges. He has described his indictment as “political warfare” directed against him ahead of the 2024 presidential elections. He is projecting himself as the victim of a politically-motivated "scam." One would have thought that with cases piling up against him, his public standing would have taken a hit. It has not. Following the state indictment in March, Trump appealed to his Make America Great Again fanbase, and financial contributions poured in. This time around, too, his core supporters are standing behind him and appear to have bought into his claims that he is a victim of the Biden government’s conspiracies to keep him out of the White House. Even his Republican rivals are avoiding criticizing him, fearing a backlash from the Republican hard right.

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Under US law, neither an indictment nor a conviction is a barrier to running for presidential office. Hence, Trump can run for another term in the White House. He is a frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination. He can be expected to turn his court trials into campaign rallies to charge up his supporters. Incidentally, Biden too is being probed for having mishandled classified documents, albeit of a smaller number and of far less security implications. Yet, Trump’s legal team can be expected to go on the offensive to embarrass Biden, especially since the latter has announced that he is seeking re-election. Trump can be expected to accuse the Biden administration of political persecution, even inciting his supporters to engage in violence as election fever in the US heats up.