Former President Donald Trump expected to plead not guilty to 37 federal charges
Haley hits Trump, says indictment shows he was ‘incredibly reckless’ with national security
Nikki Haley, who is running for the Republican 2024 presidential nomination, slammed President Donald Trump on Monday for the allegations made in the federal indictment against him that he retained classified documents.
“If this indictment is true, if what it says is actually the case, President Trump was incredibly reckless with our national security,” she said Monday.
“More than that, I’m a military spouse: My husband’s about to deploy this weekend. This puts all of our military men and women in danger,” she said.
Trump was indicted on 37 federal counts last week stemming from a special counsel investigation launched by the Department of Justice last year into his alleged retention of classified records at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. The former president is expected to plead not guilty.
The indictment accuses Trump of failing to comply with demands to return classified documents — including plans for a retaliatory attack on an unnamed foreign power — he had gathered in Mar-a-Lago. Other documents include defense and weapon capabilities of the U.S. and details of the U.S. nuclear program.
“The unauthorized disclosure of these classified documents could put at risk the national security of the United States, foreign relations, the safety of the United States military, and human sources and the continued viability of sensitive intelligence collection methods,” the indictment says.
Haley said the former president should have known better, if the allegations are true. “If you are going to talk about what our military is capable of or how we would go about invading or doing something with one of our enemies… it’s reckless, it’s frustrating, and it causes problems,” she said.
At the same time, she was sympathetic to the idea that the Biden DOJ was launching a politically-motivated prosecutions at the former President — as Trump has claimed.
“Two things can be true at the same time. One, the DOJ and FBI have lost all credibility with the American people. And getting rid of just senior management isn’t going to be enough to fix this. This is going to take a complete overhaul.”
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