After two indictments and now 37 federal charges, some of the once loyal allies of Donald Trump seem to be turning their back on the former president.
In his second arraignment this year, Mr Trump pled not guilty to all of the charges laid out in an unsealed indictment on Tuesday at a federal courthouse in Miami, Florida.
The 37 federal charges include willful retention of national defence secrets in violation of the Espionage Act, conspiracy to obstruct justice, corruptly concealing documents, concealing documents in a federal investigation, scheme to conceal and making false statements.
The indictment alleges that 31 documents found in Mr Trump’s possession contained national defence information, including about the United State’s nuclear weaponry.
Former attorney general Bill Barr, who defended Mr Trump when he was indicted by the Manhattan District Attorney in April, called the former president “toast” after reading the indictment.
Mike Pence, who served as vice president alongside Mr Trump, called the allegations against Mr Trump “very serious.”
Though Mr Trump has maintained his innocence, and accused President Joe Biden of organising the investigation and charges, it seems some of Mr Trump’s allies are not buying it.
Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, Mr Barr said Mr Trump is not a victim as he is responsible for his actions.
“I’ve been at his side defending against them when he is a victim. But this is much different. He’s not a victim here,” Mr Barr said.
The former attorney general added: “He was totally wrong that he had the right to have those documents. Those documents are among the most sensitive secrets that the country has. They have to be in the custody of the archivist. He had no right to maintain them and retain them.”
Former secretary of state and CIA chief Mike Pompeo, who defended Mr Trump even after the January 6th attack on the Capitol, told Fox & Friends on Tuesday that if the allegations are true then Mr Trump was “wrong” for keeping documents.
Mr Pompeo said: “If the allegations are true, and there’s lots of indications that they are, President Trump had classified documents where he shouldn’t have had them and then when given the opportunity to return them he chose not to do that for whatever reason.”
“That’s inconsistent with protecting America’s soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines,” he added.
Similarly, Mr Pence told The Wall Street Journal that after having read the indictment, he found the allegations “serious” and was seemingly troubled by the information.
“Frankly, having two members of our immediate family serving in the armed forces of the United States, I will never diminish the importance of protecting our nation’s secrets,” Mr Pence said.
However, the former vice president did not indicate he thought Mr Trump was guilty directly. He said he believes politics played “some role” in the decision to indict the former president.
Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor, US ambassador to the UN and 2024 presidential candidate who was a close ally of Mr Trump, had a similar stance to Mr Pence.
Speaking to Fox News on Monda, Ms Haley said she saw the former president unfairly targeted but that if this indictment was true, it meant Mr Trump was “incredibly reckless “with national security.
“If this indictment is true, if what it says is actually the case, President Trump was incredibly reckless with our national security,” Ms Haley said.
She added: “This puts all of our military men and women in danger… it’s reckless, it’s frustrating and it causes problems.”
Mr Trump’s former acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said he believes there are “fairly high” chances that Mr Trump is guilty and could go to jail.
“They have him with significant evidence, it looks like, as to obstruction. So I think the chances of a guilty verdict are fairly high and the chances of real jail time are pretty high,” Mr Mulvaney told GB News.
He went on to explain that had Mr Trump turned over the classified documents when he found them, like Mr Biden and Mr Pence did, he likely would not be in the amount of trouble he is now
