Donald Trump's federal indictment sheds light on two crucial questions about the presidential records he took with him when he left office in January 2021: How sensitive was this material, and what was Trump's intent in retaining it? Both points are relevant to the criminal charges that were announced last week.
Trump faces 31 counts of willfully retaining national defense information, each of which corresponds to a specific document described in the indictment. The relevant statute, 18 USC 793, covers "information relating to the national defense" that "the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation."
