Donald Trump kept classified documents in shower and ballroom and faces 37 felony counts, unsealed indictment shows

A newly unsealed indictment shows that Donald Trump kept classified documents in a bathroom, shower, ballroom, storeroom, office, and bedroom.

The former president faces 37 felony counts related to retaining classified information, obstructing justice and false statements.

Donald Trump indictment latest:
Former US president 'told aide to hide boxes from FBI'

The indictment, which was made public on Friday, said Trump was personally involved in moving boxes to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and showed documents to others on at least two occasions.

The charges accuse the president of risking some of the country's most sensitive security secrets.

Details on the US nuclear weapons programmes, potential vulnerabilities of the US and its allies, and US plans for retaliatory military attacks were in some of the documents, the federal indictment said.

Prosecutors said Trump showed another person a document from the defence department described as a "plan of attack" against another country.

The indictment marks the first time in US history that a former president faces criminal charges by the federal government he once oversaw.

Trump faces the possibility of prison if convicted, with the charge of obstruction of justice carrying the highest penalty of up to 20 years.

Charged alongside Trump was his aide Walt Nauta, who was seen on a CCTV camera removing boxes at the Mar-a-Lago estate.

Nauta faces six charges including conspiracy to obstruct, withholding a document or record, and scheme to conceal, according to the federal indictment.

He told the FBI that he did not know how some of the documents ended up at the Mar-a-Largo estate, when in fact he had been involved in moving them from a storage room, the indictment states.

Lying to government officials

The newly unsealed indictment was constructed using Trump's own words and actions as told to prosecutors by lawyers, close aides and other witnesses.

It accuses Trump of enlisting aides in his efforts to hide the records and telling his lawyers he wanted to defy a subpoena for the materials stored at his Florida estate.

"I don't want anybody looking through my boxes," one of Trump's lawyers described the former president saying, according to the indictment.

He also asked if it would be better "if we just told them we don't have anything here".

Totalling nearly 50 pages, the indictment comes as Trump is due to make his first court appearance in federal court in Miami, where the case was filed.

Laws 'must be enforced'

Special Counsel Jack Smith, whose investigation into Trump over classified documents led to his indictment, said laws that protect national defence information are critical and "must be enforced".

Trump, who has proclaimed his innocence in the case, attacked Mr Smith on his Truth Social platform after the details of the indictment were released.

"He is a Trump Hater - a deranged 'psycho' that shouldn't be involved in any case having to do with 'Justice,'" he wrote.

He added: "There was no crime except for what the DOJ and FBI have been doing against me for years.

"Nobody said I wasn't allowed to look at the personal records that I brought with me from the White House. There's nothing wrong with that..."

Roughly 13,000 documents were seized by investigators from the Mar-a-Lago estate nearly a year ago.

One hundred were marked as classified.

The former president previously said he declassified those documents while president, but his attorneys have declined to make that argument in court filings.