Donald Trump has lashed out at special counsel Jack Smith, branding the federal prosecutor a “deranged lunatic” and “psycho” for indicting him over mishandling of secret national security papers.
The former president attacked Mr Smith on his Truth Social platform after the Department of Justice’s 49-page, 37-count indictment against him was unsealed on Friday.
“This is the man who caused the Lois Lerner catastrophe with the IRS. He went after Evangelicals and Great Americans of Faith. The United States had to apologize, and pay major damages for what this deranged lunatic did,” stated twice-impeached Mr Trump.
“He had a unanimous loss in the Supreme Court. His wife is a Trump Hater, just as he is a Trump Hater—a deranged “psycho” that shouldn’t be involved in any case having to do with ‘Justice,’ other than to look at Biden as a criminal, which he is!”
The indictment details the charges against Mr Trump and Walt Nauta, a former US Navy noncommissioned officer who left government service to work for Mr Trump after his term ended in January 2021.
According to the indictment, the 37 charges against Mr Trump and Mr Nauta include willful retention of national defence information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document or record, concealing a document in a federal investigation, scheme to conceal, and false statements and representations.
The first 31 counts of the indictment concern Mr Trump’s willful retention of national defence information at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach, Florida home.
The indictment states that Mr Trump kept the classified documents from seven agencies after leaving the White House.
The agencies include the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, the National Security Agency, the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, the Department of Energy, and the Department of State and Bureau of Intelligence and Research.