Trump left with few defenses for hoarding top secret documents

The sprawling indictment targeting the former president is set out like chapters in a novel easily digested by a trial jury

By laying out Donald Trump's own admissions and incriminating eyewitness accounts from his employees, the indictment unsealed on Friday provided compelling evidence that the former US president could find exceedingly difficult to overcome and avoid a conviction.

The sprawling, 38-count indictment (in which Trump's valet was also charged) filed in the US district court in Florida revealed the previously unknown extent of Trump's blatant efforts to retain the country's most sensitive secrets and obstruct the government's attempts to get them back.