Source: The Washington Post / Getty
New evidence of how badly Donald Trump stored classified documents has spurred some on social media into outrage and renewed calls to prevent him from returning to the White House.
On Monday evening(June 24), Special Counsel Jack Smith and his team submitted new evidence to the court showing just how haphazardly former President Donald Trump stored numerous boxes of classified government documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, with photographs showing boxes of documents without lids, stored upside down with their contents spilling out and even wedged in among Christmas ornaments. “Against this backdrop of the haphazard manner in which Trump chose to maintain his boxes, he now claims that the precise order of the items within the boxes when they left the White House was critical to his defense,” the filing read.
Other photos show mundane items such as golf shirts strewn among the documents in their boxes, as well as some amid cases of Diet Coke and presidential souvenirs. Attorneys from Smith’s team made the filing to counter a motion filed by Trump’s attorneys that claimed that the case of Trump willfully hiding classified government documents should be thrown out since the government failed to log the precise contents of the boxes. They also allege that FBI agents who arrived to retrieve the documents destroyed “exculpatory evidence” by not keeping them in order during the search. Trump faces 42 charges in the case which includes willful retention of national security information, corruptly concealing documents, and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
The case, however, has been slowed down so much by Judge Aileen Cannon to the point where legal experts have pointedly accused her of purposely delaying it to help Trump, who appointed her to her position. Judge Cannon postponed the trial indefinitely – it was supposed to begin on May 20. The new evidence however has stunned many online, who cite it as yet another reason that Donald Trump should not return to office in November – if re-elected, he would be in a position to pardon himself as these crimes are federal. The revelation spurred a new wave of outrage from those on social media users, particularly on X, formerly Twitter with some Trump supporters claiming the new photos were “staged”.
We’ve collected some of the more striking reactions to the new evidence below.
