Trump’s Indictment: A Trivial Pursuit of Justice

In a twist that could only happen in American politics, former President Donald Trump and his trusty valet, Walt Nauta, have been served a 37-count indictment. The charges? A game of hide-and-seek with classified documents that would make James Bond blush. Here are the top 10 trivia facts about this unprecedented event.

• Looking for facts on Trump’s sexual assault case? We have 9 Trivia Facts about the E. Jean Carroll Trial.

#1. A Presidential First

Donald Trump has been indicted on 37 federal charges related to mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House in 2021. This is the first time a former US president has been indicted on federal charges. Talk about a legacy!

#2. Nuclear Secrets and Domestic Vulnerabilities

Trump’s indictment alleges that Trump mishandled classified documents, including secret information about the US nuclear program. It’s like a Tom Clancy novel but with more golf. Trump faces charges for violations of the Espionage Act, which criminalizes the unauthorized possession of defense information. He also faces conspiracy charges to obstruct justice, which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

#3. Mar-a-Lago: More Than Just a Resort

Trump allegedly stored classified documents in various locations at his Mar-a-Lago resort home in Florida. Office space, bedroom, storage room, bathroom, ballroom, and even the shower – no place was too sacred for national secrets!

#4. The Valet Did It!

Trump’s valet, Waltine Nauta, was indicted alongside him for conspiring to hide classified documents from attorneys searching for them. Nauta faces six federal charges, including concealing evidence and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Who knew a valet job came with such risks?

#5. Birthday Court Appearance

Trump made his first appearance in the case in a Miami court on June 13, 2023 – a day before his 77th birthday. Talk about a party pooper! Trump’s aide, Walt Nauta, appeared in court alongside him. Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges. He was allowed to leave the court without conditions or travel restrictions and no cash bond.

#6. Seven Agencies, One “Plan of Attack”

The classified materials came from seven federal intelligence agencies, including the Pentagon, the CIA, the National Security Agency, and the Department of Energy. Trump’s indictment alleges that he showed someone a Defense Department document described as a “plan of attack” against another country. It’s like a spy movie but with less charm and more Twitter.

#7. The Power of Declassification

Trump’s indictment alleges that the former president acknowledged losing declassification power when he left office. It also alleges that Trump discussed with his lawyers the possibility of lying to government officials seeking to recover the documents. A little white lie never hurt anyone, right?

#8. The Teflon Don

Despite Trump’s indictment, he remains the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination next year. This will be his third presidential run if he goes forward with it. Trump’s legal woes have yet to dent his popularity with Republican voters, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling. It seems Teflon Don is more than just a nickname.

#9. Political Retaliation or Justice Served?

Trump and his allies have portrayed the case as political retaliation by Democratic President Joe Biden. However, Biden has kept his distance, stating he had no advance knowledge of the indictment. He later declined to comment when reporters asked about it.

#10. The Pardon Paradox

Trump’s plea sets up a legal battle likely to play out over the coming months. This is as he campaigns to win back the presidency in November 2024 election. It would be controversial and unprecedented if Trump wins the presidency again and pardons himself. However, the case does not prevent Trump from campaigning or taking office if he wins. Legal experts say there would be no basis to block his swearing-in even if he were convicted and sent to prison. In other words, Trump could be the first president to deliver a State of the Union address from a jail cell. Now that’s a trivia fact for the ages!

Trump 2024 Election Quiz

Now that you know all the facts about Trump’s indictment, how about a news quiz?

Trump 2024 Quiz

16 Multiple-choice general knowledge questions about Trump’s 2024 election race and legal woes. No time-limit. How smart are you today?

1 / 16

1. According to the Jan. 6 House Committee Hearings, what did Donald Trump’s “Election Defense Fund” fund?

Screenshot: The Jan. 6 House Committee Hearings

Trump’s Election Defense Fund.

Trump’s super PAC.

Trump’s charitable activity.

Investigating voting machines.

According to the Jan. 6 House Committee Hearings, Donald Trump’s supporters donated $250 million to a non-existent “Election Defense Fund” after the election. The committee investigator said millions of donated dollars flowed into a super PAC that Trump set up just days after the election, sending millions to charitable foundations and political groups run by several of Trump’s former staff members.

2 / 16

2. Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, where the ex-president kept top-secret US intelligence documents, is only approachable to who?

Photo: Shealah Craighead, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Only people authorized by the Secret Service.

Trump, his staff, and his family.

Trump, his staff, family, paying members, and their guests.

Trump, his staff, family, paying members, their guests, and attendees at functions, weddings, fundraisers, and charity galas.

Mar-a-Lago is a private club accessible not only to Trump, his staff, and his family but also paying members and their guests, attendees at various functions, weddings, political fundraisers, and charity galas.

What did Trump keep in Mar-a-Lago?

The FBI’s Aug. 14 search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate reinstated 15 boxes to the National Archives and Records Administration – 14 of which contained US intelligence documents with classifications ranging from confidential to top secret.

3 / 16

3. According to Donald Trump, what caused him to suffer $475 million worth of “embarrassment, pain, humiliation, and mental anguish”?

Screenshot: WXYZ-TV Detroit | Channel 7 – YouTube

Losing the 2020 elections.

The New York State fraud lawsuit against Trump and his kids.

The FBI’s Mar-A-Lago invasion.

CNN referred to Trump’s false 2020 election claims as “lies.”

In a lawsuit filed on Oct. 3, 2022, former US president Donald Trump claimed that CNN defamed him by referring to his false comments about the 2020 election as lies and demanded $475 million in damages. According to the lawsuit, CNN’s coverage has caused the former president to suffer “embarrassment, humiliation, and mental anguish.”

4 / 16

4. Gov. Ron DeSantis, the potential Republican presidential candidate from Florida, was nicknamed what by Donald Trump?

Screenshot: BBC News – YouTube

DeSanctimonious.

DeFuture.

DeSanity.

Trumpty Dumpty.

On Nov. 15, 2022, US ex-president Donald Trump announced that he would run again in 2024. The announcement came just a week after the 2022 midterm elections, in which Republican candidates backed by Trump performed poorly. The ex-president recently nicknamed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis “DeSanctimonious.“

Why doesn’t Trump like DeSantis?

DeSantis won reelection in Florida after flying migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard and other liberal cities. He is considered by many as the next presidential candidate for the Republican party. A Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper, the New York Post, which turned against Trump during the Jan. 6 congressional committee hearings, called DeSantis “DeFuture” and Trump “Trumpty Dumpty,” who “couldn’t build a wall.”

5 / 16

5. According to his tax returns, how many foreign countries did Ex-US President Trump have accounts in until 2018?

Photo: The White House / Public domain

None.

7.

5.

3.

The House of Representatives released Donald Trump’s tax returns on Dec. 30, 2022. The thousands of financial documents became the subject of a lengthy legal battle after Trump broke a precedent by not releasing his tax returns while running for president. According to his tax returns, Trump had accounts in China, the United Kingdom, southern Ireland, and the Caribbean island nation of St. Martin. As of 2017, Trump earned $55 million from countries such as Azerbaijan, India, Indonesia, Panama, the Philippines, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. By 2018, he had closed all his overseas accounts except the one in the UK.

6 / 16

6. What was one of the companies Trump reported owning in 2020 called?

Screenshot: ABC News – YouTube

The Boring Company.

Smart investments.

Unreimbursed expenses.

Golf All Day LLC.

One of the 150 companies Trump reported in 2020 was called “Unreimbursed expenses.” This company claimed losses of $438,000 through gift card redemptions, and the Joint Committee on Taxation called on the IRS to investigate.

7 / 16

7. Why did Donald Trump sue Bob Woodward and the publishers of “The Trump Tapes”?

Screenshot: NBC News – YouTube

He’s unhappy with the sales numbers.

He claims they violated his copyright.

He didn’t like the way he was portrayed on the tapes.

He thinks they violated his right to privacy.

On Jan. 30, 2023, Donald Trump sued Bob Woodward, claiming he didn’t have permission to release the interview recordings he made for the book “Rage.” The lawsuit says Trump agreed to be interviewed between Dec. 2019 and Aug. 2020 for a book Woodward was working on, but only for that book. According to Trump’s lawyers, Woodward and Simon & Schuster Inc. violated his copyright when they released “The Trump Tapes: Bob Woodward’s Twenty Interviews With President Donald Trump” in Oct. 2022. Trump is seeking just under $50m in damages.

8 / 16

8. Who is Nikki Haley?

Screenshot: Fox News’ “Special Report”

An ex-UN ambassador and South Carolina governor.

An ex-US senator and North Carolina governor.

A former astronaut.

A former nurse.

Nikki Haley served as the US ambassador to the UN during the Trump administration and was governor of South Carolina from Jan. 2017 to Dec. 2018. She announced her presidential run in February 2023.

How is Trump taking it?

Haley was the first Republican candidate to run against former President Donald Trump this year. Trump told reporters Haley had called and said she was thinking about running for president, to which he replied, “You should do it.”  Haley told Fox News’ Special Report, “I think we need a young generation to come in, step up and start fixing things… Can I be that leader? Yes, I think I can be that leader.”

9 / 16

9. In his own words, how did Tucker Carlson feel towards Donald Trump while promoting his election lies?

Screenshot: Fox News

He loved him unconditionally.

He admired him secretly.

He envied him tremendously.

He hated him passionately.

According to court filings in a defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News, Tucker Carlson wrote in a text message to a Fox employee on Jan. 4, 2021, that he hated Donald Trump “passionately” and that he “blew up at Peter Navarro today in frustration.” Peter Navarro was Trump’s assistant who supported the false claims about the 2020 election. The same filings show that Carlson criticized Trump’s lawyer Sidney Powell for not providing evidence for her claims on his show.

According to Tucker Carlson, what happened during the Jan. 6 riots?

On Dec. 20, 2022, Fox News host Tucker Carlson announced that he had obtained exclusive access to about 44,000 hours of security video from inside and outside the Capitol on Jan. 6 from the Republican Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy. On Mar. 6 and Mar. 7, 2023, Carlson aired some clips of the video on his show that he claimed showed that most of the rioters were peaceful. Carlson faced bipartisan criticism from lawmakers and journalists who accused him of cherry-picking footage that downplayed or ignored the violence and chaos on Jan. 6 and endangered law enforcement officers who defended the Capitol.

10 / 16

10. Writer E. Jean Carroll alleged in her 2019 memoir that Donald Trump sexually assaulted her in 1996. Trump responded by calling her a ‘nut job.’ What did the jury rule?

Screenshot: ABC News – YouTube

Sexual abuse and defamation.

Sexual assault and battery.

Fraud and conspiracy.

Nothing. Trump was acquitted.

E. Jean Carroll alleged in her 2019 memoir that Donald Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman store in New York City in 1996. Trump denied the allegation and called her a “nut job.” Carroll sued for defamation and battery under a New York law that allowed her to file a civil lawsuit despite the expired statute of limitations. The trial began on April 24, 2023, and lasted three weeks. On May 9, 2023, the jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation but not rape. They awarded Carroll $5 million in damages: $2 million for sexual abuse, $1 million for defamation, and $2 million in punitive damages.

11 / 16

11. Which of these vice presidents was the first to challenge their boss for the presidency?

Screenshot: Eyewitness News ABC7NY – YouTube

Thomas Jefferson, who beefed with John Adams over the Alien and Sedition Acts.

Al Gore, who tried to outsmart Bill Clinton with his internet invention.

Dick Cheney, who wanted to show George W. Bush how to shoot properly.

Mike Pence, who secretly plotted to overthrow Donald Trump with his puppy eyes.

Thomas Jefferson was John Adams’ vice president from 1797 to 1801. He was the first VP to run against his own president. The last time was when John Nance Garner, FDR’s vice president from 1933 to 1941, ran against him in the 1940 Democratic primary, opposing FDR’s New Deal policies and his decision to run for a third term. That is, until Donald Trump’s VP, Mike Pence, announced his candidacy on June 5, 2023, challenging his former boss in the 2024 Republican primary.

12 / 16

12. Which former US president made history by being the first to face federal charges?

Screenshot: FOX 5 Atlanta – YouTube

Barack Obama.

Donald Trump.

George W. Bush.

Abraham Lincoln.

On June 9, 2023, the Department of Justice unsealed a sweeping 37-count indictment against Donald Trump and his aide Walt Nauta. The indictment alleges that they willfully retained and concealed documents containing the nation’s most sensitive secrets, including nuclear programs, after he left office. The indictment also accuses Trump of showing some documents to guests at his golf club in New Jersey and instructing his lawyers and aides to obstruct the investigation into their whereabouts. Trump appeared in a Florida federal court on June 13, 2023. He denounced the indictment as a political “witch hunt” and claimed he was innocent.

13 / 16

13. In a meeting with a publisher, Donald Trump revealed secret Pentagon plans to attack what country?

Screenshot: Fox News

Canada.

Russia.

North Korea.

Iran.

According to a recording first obtained by CNN, Former President Donald Trump showed a document titled “Plan of Attack” to a publisher and writer working on a memoir by his former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, in 2021. Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Defense Department, drew up the document. It contained options for attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities. The tape contradicted Trump’s recent statement that he was referring to news clippings when he mentioned the document in an interview with Fox News. Trump was indicted for mishandling classified documents and obstructing the government’s efforts to retrieve them on June 13, 2023.

14 / 16

14. What’s Donald Trump’s legal trouble in Fulton County?

Photo: Fulton County Police

He’s on trial for spreading "The Presidential Puff" hairstyle.

He’s accused of forcing himself on a woman.

He’s facing charges for illegal tax evading tactics at Georgia State.

He’s been indicted for forgery, racketeering, and violating an oath of office.

Former US President Donald Trump is back in the spotlight after a grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, served him with a fresh set of charges on Aug. 15, 2023. The charges include a spicy mix of forgery, racketeering, and violating an oath of office. This legal saga stems from Trump’s relentless efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. Trump pleaded not guilty on Aug. 31 and waived his right to a hearing in the Georgia criminal case, probably to avoid TV coverage.

15 / 16

15. Amid the New York fraud trial, how did Donald Trump describe his financial statements under scrutiny?

Screenshot: Associated Press – YouTube

Flawless.

A Financial Catastrophe.

Phenomenal.

A Literal Treasure Map.

Former President Donald Trump’s financial statements became the star of the show in a New York civil fraud trial on Oct. 2, 2023. The New York Attorney General, Letitia James, is seeking a whopping $250 million and sanctions that could bid farewell to the Trumps doing business in New York. Despite allegations of inflating his wealth by as much as $3.6 billion to charm banks into giving him loans, Trump, ever the optimist, proclaimed his financial statements “phenomenal.”

Fun Fact: On Oct. 3, 2023, Justice Engoron ordered the former president not to attack or even comment on court staff after Trump posted a message to social media mocking the Judge’s law clerk, Allison Greenfield. The Judge stated that this “gag order” forbids any posts, emails, or public remarks about the court’s staff and threatened Trump with “serious sanctions.”

16 / 16

16. How many daughters fell from the Donald branch in the Trump family tree?

Screenshot: 13WMAZ / AP – YouTube

Just one, Ivanka. The apple of his eye.

Two, Ivanka and Tiffany, a pair of Trumpettes.

Three, Ivanka, Melanie, and Tiffany, a full house.

A whole bunch, but the exact count is under audit.

Donald Trump has two daughters, Ivanka and Tiffany. Ivanka, often in the spotlight, is a central figure in the Trump Organization and her father’s political ventures. Tiffany, less in the public eye, is the only child from Donald Trump’s marriage to Marla Maples. Ivanka Trump testified on Nov. 8, 2023, at her father’s New York civil fraud trial. She was questioned about her involvement in the Trump Organization’s business dealings.

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Sources

We cross-checked our trivia facts about Trump’s indictment with the world’s leading and most trustworthy news outlets. Here are the articles we read for this post.

• AP News: Trump’s Indictment Takeaways: His Alleged Schemes and Lies to keep secret papers
• AP News: Trump set for first public appearances since the federal indictment, speaking in Georgia, North Carolina
• AP News: Trump turns his day in court into a campaign event despite serious political and legal threats
• Wikipedia: Federal Prosecution of Donald TUSmp
• BBC News: Could Donald Trump Go to Prison over secret files?
• BBC News: Donald Trump stony-faced during the federal indictment hearing
• The New York Times: The Trump Documents Case Puts the Justice System on Trial
• The New York Times: Trump Arraignment: Scenes From Inside the Miami Courtroom
• Reuters: Trump risked national secrets, US prosecutors allege in the indictment
• Reuters: Trump pleads not guilty in federal documents case
• The Guardian: Indictment Charging Trump with mishandling classified documents unsealed
• The Guardian: Nuclear weapon secrets in the bathroom: five revelations from Trump’s indictment
• The Guardian: Trump claims ‘political persecution’ in speech after arraignment