The American magazine Newsweek said in a report that a search warrant for the residence of former US President Donald Trump at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach showed that Trump is under investigation for a possible violation of the Espionage Act, and indicates the existence of possible violations of the laws of others. U.S.A.

While no formal charges have been filed against Trump, rumors have intensified about the next steps the Justice Department might take following the release of documents related to the search of his Florida home on Friday.

The magazine pointed out that the Espionage Act, passed in 1917, “punishes fines or imprisonment for up to 10 years, or both, for the mishandling of protective information,” noting that the law was mentioned in “Trump’s warrant for house search.”

The memorandum mentions two other basic laws, the violation of which can be punishable by imprisonment. In the part of the memo regarding documents that could be found, the document says: other things in illegal possession, including violations of section 18 of the Code of the United States”.

Article 18 states: “Anyone who is entrusted with, owns or is lawfully in possession of any document, drawing, photograph, diagram, map, model, instrument, device, note or information relating to national defense, and authorizes them to be removed from their proper place. or delivered to any person in breach of trust, or allowed it to be lost, stolen or destroyed through gross negligence, or knew that it was unlawfully removed from its proper place or delivered to any person in breach of trust, or it was lost, stolen or destroyed, and also immediate reporting of loss, theft, or damage of this kind to a responsible officer is punishable by a fine or imprisonment for up to ten years, or both.”

The second law mentioned in the memorandum concerns “the concealment, removal or distortion of public documents in general”. These violations carry a fine or a three-year prison sentence, or both. This law criminalizes the destruction or theft of government records, and any person who has any records or documents obtained through a federal court or government agency that willfully and unlawfully conceal, misrepresent, falsify, or destroy.

The third law mentioned is part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which was passed in 2002 in the aftermath of the financial scandals involving Enron and WorldCom, and deals with “the destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in a Federal investigation.” the maximum penalty for any of the possible violations is 20 years in prison.”

The law states that “anyone who alters, damages, misrepresents, obscures, conceals, falsifies or inserts false information into any record or document with intent to obstruct or obstruct or influence an investigation or to properly resolve any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency in the United States, he will be fined or imprisoned for up to 20 years, or both.”

According to the magazine, the memo indicates that the Mar-a-Lago raid was part of an investigation into potentially serious crimes and that anyone found guilty of these crimes could be sentenced to years in federal prison. crimes, but it appears that the investigation into the handling of the White House documents is still ongoing.

Trump, for his part, denied wrongdoing and suggested that FBI agents may have planted evidence during the search, while he and his Republican allies argued that the raid was politically motivated.