Quite a bit was revealed Friday when a second indictment against former President Donald Trump – the current GOP frontrunner for the 2024 election – was unsealed Friday. One particularly interesting fact was that Trump stored documents in a bathroom and shower at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla.
Photos show boxes stacked in a bathroom with a chandelier inside.
“Trump stored his boxes containing classified documents in various locations at the Mar-a-Lago Club – including in a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, an office space, his bedroom and a storage room,” said the indictment.
Charging documents include a transcript of two Trump employees texting in which one said “there is still a little room in the shower where his other stuff is,” regarding boxes of papers. Waltine Nauta, Trump’s valet, is named as a co-conspirator in the indictment.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, some of the boxes were moved from the business center at Mar-a-Lago to a bathroom in the club’s Lake Room. These boxes were later moved to a storage room near areas that could be publicly accessed, where some eventually spilled out on the floor, per photos shared by the DOJ.
As photos of the boxes at Mar-a-Lago were shared online, comments flooded in. You can see the photos here via Axios.
“You know Melania doesn’t live there with this bathroom,” joked writer Amber Sparks, referring to Trump’s wife.
“Oh so suddenly it’s illegal to have Top Secret Bathroom Documents. Can’t believe we’re going after people for their Bathroom Documents now,” said NBC reporter Ben Collins in a sarcastic tweet. “All real Americans have their Bathroom Documents where the bathmat should be. Your top secret Bathroom Documents are next.”
“He stored highly classified documents in his bathroom!?” said Sen.
Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.). “Talk about a sh*tshow.”
Opinion columnist Maureen Dowd also wrote about the bathroom classified document library for The New York Times.
“The special counsel made it clear that this isn’t just a ‘boxes hoax,’ as Trump called it,” she wrote. “You can’t purloin classified documents; leave them in the gilt-and-crystal glare of the bathroom, shower, bedroom and ballroom at Mar-a-Lago; and show them off to remind people how important you are.”
Jack Smith, the special counsel assigned to the investigation into the documents said “this indictment was voted by a grand jury of citizens in the Southern District of Florida, and I invite everyone to read it in full to understand the scope and the gravity of the crimes charged.”
According to the indictment, documents included information about “defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries; United States nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities of the Unites States and its allies to military attack and plans for retaliation in response to a foreign attack,” and that “the unauthorized disclosure of these classified documents could put at risk the national security of the United States.”
Trump is expected to appear in a Miami, Fla., federal court Tuesday. While he has remained popular in the wake of two indictments and other legal issues, some experts think these charges could lead to grave consequences for Trump.
Former Justice Department attorney Justin Levitt told KNX that things look rough for Trump and that the former president has already started up a defense in the court of public opinion, posting on Truth Social that the indictment is a “witch hunt,” and claiming innocence. U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, Matthew Schneider, told WWJ that if Trump is convicted he could face prison time and be barred from running for office.
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