Former President Donald Trump’s latest run for the White House is being hampered by a slew of legal onslaughts, the latest being a federal indictment for mishandling classified information and lying about it. That’s in addition to a New York state felony indictment for falsifying business records and a jury’s verdict that he is civilly liable for sexual assaulting a woman. The cases could bring further distractions and produce more unflattering revelations — not to mention adverse verdicts — that no presidential candidate would welcome. Trump is no normal politician, though, and the legal scrutiny could feed his preferred narrative that he is being unfairly targeted by the current Democratic administration and a “deep state” bureaucracy.
The federal indictment was filed under seal in the US District Court in Miami and contains seven charges, including willful retention of national defense information, corruptly concealing documents, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and making false statements, according to a familiar person who asked for anonymity to discuss confidential information. Trump said he had been ordered to appear in Miami federal court June 13. If convicted of obstructing justice, he could face as long as 20 years in prison.
