Donald Trump was known as a Teflon president because legal trouble rarely stuck to him. But is he a Teflon ex-president? The Republican primary is playing out much like 2016, with Trump waiting in the wings as a crowded field of candidates struggle to win over the GOP base, making a 2020 election rematch likely, but a federal indictment unsealed on Friday makes it two sets of criminal charges levied against him—with more shoes set to drop. It’s of course too soon to tell what happens next, but one thing is clear: More than 70 counts against Trump just make his base of voters angrier. The indictment from special counsel Jack Smith brings 37 counts alleging that Trump engaged in a conspiracy with a close aide—Waltine “Walt” Nauta—to resist returning classified materials stored at his Mar-a-Lago home, despite receiving a subpoena requiring him to do so. It amounts to seven charges, including conspiracy to obstruct justice, corruptly concealing documents, making false statements, and willful retention of national defense information, and it’s the second pending indictment against Trump after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought 34 counts in early April.
Here’s what you need to know.
