Explained | Trump indictment: Who are the key people mentioned?

Former United States president Donald Trump on Tuesday (June 13) pleaded not guilty to dozens of criminal counts of mishandling government secrets and scheming to prevent their return. Trump appeared before a magistrate judge to be formally presented with 37 counts under seven charges brought by a special counsel probe that opened after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided his Mar-a-Lago mansion 10 months back.

Trump pleaded not guilty, maintained his innocence and went on to portraythe case as an effort to undermine his 2024 election effort.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

The case involves numerous other individuals apart from Trump, who allegedly played a role in the former president committing crimes related to the classified documents he took from the White House after leaving office in 2021, as per a report by The Guardian late Tuesday.

Here are the key people mentioned in the indictment

The former United States president is the central focus of the indictment. Trump has been charged with 37 felony counts, including 31 counts of willful retention of classified documents and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice. He pleaded not guilty to all 37 counts and dismissed his prosecution as politically-motivated. The government has accused the 77-year-old Republican of violating the Espionage Act and other laws when he removed classified documents after leaving office and failed to give them to the National Archives.

Authorities also said that Trump conspired to thwart investigators and knowingly shared national security secrets with people who did not have the requisite clearance. Trump has dismissed the 44-page indictment as "ridiculous."

Waltine Nauta, Trump's personal valet, is one of the key figures in the case, The Guardian reported. A Navy veteran, Nauta worked as a White House valet when Trump was president and moved to Florida after the 2020 presidential election to become his personal aide.

Prosecutors alleged that Nauta was a 'point person" for Trump whenever he wanted to access or hide the box of classified documents. As per the indictment, Nauta was instructed to transport various documents to the former president's personal residence and the valet helped Trump try to conceal the boxes of top-secret information from the FBI.

Nauta is facing several charges including conspiracy and making false statements.

Much of the 44-page indictment appears to be based on notes and recordings of "Trump Attorney 1"- who has not been named but The Guardian report said he has been identified as Evan Corcoran. He is a former US attorney who worked in private practice for more than 20 years. He was hired by Trump in 2021.

Corcoran took extensive notes and recordings of his communications with the former president. Corcoran's notes are featured throughout the indictment, including a communication where he stated that Trump made a "plucking motion" when discussing documents that potentially intimated the attorney should pluck out and destroy classified information.

Corcoran has not been charged in the indictment

Two unnamed employees of Donald Trump have also been mentioned in the indictment as Trump Employee 1 and Trump Employee 2. The texts between these two employees describe moving classified documents to different storage locations at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence. Following this discussion, some of the documents were moved to a bathroom at the Mar-a-Lago resort and the indictment showeda photograph of stacks of boxes sitting next to a toilet.

The indictment also states that Trump Employee 2 worked with Trump's personal aide Waltine Nauta to bring boxes from the storage room to Trump’s residence for his review. The employee and Nauta shared details about where the boxes (of classified documents) were stored and referenced Trump’s demands for information about them.

A representative from Trump's political action committee (PAC) has also been mentioned in the indictment. According to prosecutors, Trump met with this representative and talked about how an ongoing military operation (which the indictment states as “Country B”) was going poorly. The meeting happened either in August or September 2021. Trump showed the PAC representative a classified map of the country and said saying he shouldn't be showing it to them.

The representative, who has not been identified, did not have clearance to see information about this military operation.

A member of the Trump family is one of the key people in the indictment which states that this member texted Nauta about the boxes of classified documents and Trump’s desire to relocate them. The family member has not been identified, but Nauta calls the person "Ma'am" in a text, The Guardian reported.

In July 2021, Trump was interviewed by a writer and a publisher. As per the indictment, the unidentified writer and publisher along with Trump's staffers met in his office at Bedminster for the interview. During the interview, Trump brought up secret documents multiple times- which neither the writer and the publisher, nor Trump's staffers had clearance to see.

WATCH WION LIVE HERE

You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.