Trump’s Own Words Play a Star Role in the Case Against Him

The federal indictment against Donald Trump is rooted in the contents of the classified documents he kept after leaving the White House, but charging papers show how the famously unfiltered former president’s own words helped prosecutors build a case against him.

In order to win at trial, Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team will have to persuade a jury that Trump not only mishandled sensitive national security information and interfered with the government’s efforts to get the records back, but that he did so “willfully” and “knowingly.” It’s a high bar to clear, and one that requires tapping into a defendant’s ...