Show and Tell Indictment: The 49-page indictment against Donald Trump charges  that the former president illegally held documents concerning “nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack; and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack.”

  The indictment handed up in Florida lodges 37 criminal charges against Trump, including 31 for withholding defense information, 5 counts of concealing possession of classified documents, and one count of making false statements to the FBI.

  It says, “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 also shows that Trump was more reckless and cavalier in handing of the documents than previously known.

  Charged with Trump as a co-conspirator is one of his personal aides, Waltine Nauta, who is accused of assisting in obstruction of the  investigation.

  Special prosecutor Jack Smith said in a televised statement that, “Our laws that protect national defense information are critical to the safety and security of the Unites States and they must be enforced.” He said, “We have one set of laws in this country and they apply to everyone.”

  The indictment says that when he left office Trump held on to intelligence documents involving, among other agencies, Central Intelligence, the Department of Defense, the National Security Agency, and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. It says sensitive documents were kept on the stage of the Mar-a-Lago ballroom, a bathroom, an office, and Trump’s bedroom. One photo attached to the indictment shows secret documents spilled on the floor.

  In one damning incident laid out in the indictment, Trump shows documents to people not authorized to see them at his Bedminster New Jersey golf club, bragging that they were “highly confidential” and “secret.” At times in the recorded meeting his audience was laughing as Trump said, “Except it is like, highly confidential.”

  The case has been initially assigned to US District Court Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed by Trump and previously made some rulings favorable to the former president that were reversed by a higher court. 

  After the announcement Trump was immediately on the personal counter attack, posting on Truth Social that prosecutor Jack Smith is a “deranged “psycho” who shouldn’t  be involved in anything having to do with “Justice.”

Eye for an Eye: Trump and some of his most fervent supporters in Congress don’t care what the indictment says. They are denouncing it as a political prosecution. 

  Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona tweeted, “We have now reached a war phase. Eye for an eye.”

  Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene posted, “37 counts of election interference is exactly what the DOJ just committed.” 

  Blaming President Biden, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said, “In over two centuries of our nation’s history, no new president has ever launched the entire machinery of justice on a vendetta to persecute, attack, investigate, indict, & jail the former president.”

  A rare Republican voice of reason is Utah’s Mitt Romney, who posted that, “Mr. Trump brought these charges upon himself by not only taking classified documents, but by refusing to simply return them when given numerous opportunities to do so.”

The War Room: Fighting is raging across a swath of southeastern Ukraine as Ukrainian forces attack Russian positions, probing for weak points to be broken through. Ukraine has not made any official announcements, but it appears that their counter-offensive against the Russian occupiers is fully under way.

  Ukraine is taking losses. Pictures and video on the internet show destroyed US and western armored vehicles.

  Both sides are dealing with severe flooding resulting from the destruction of the Nova Kakhovkadam on the Dnipro River.  The warring sides blame each other. Norwegian seismologists say they had detected a possible explosion around the time of the breaching of Ukraine’s Nova Kakhovka dam, and Ukraine says it intercepted a telephone call between Russian soldiers that “confirms” it was Moscow’s saboteurs who destroyed the dam. 

The Obit Page: Barry Newman, an actor who starred in prime time television dramas but was best known for being the central figure in the 1971 road movie “Vanishing Point,” has died at age 93.

  Newman played Kowalski, a car-delivery driver who bets his drug dealer that if he can speed from Denver to San Francisco in 15 hours, then Kowalski gets the shipment of amphetamines for himself.

  Heavy on engine noise, police sirens, and electric guitar with a focus on Newman’s chiseled and unshaven jawline, the movie became a cult classic. 

The Spin Rack: Four siblings ages one to nine have been found alive 40 days after the plane in which they were travelling went down in the Colombian jungle, killing the adults on board. — Texas Gov. GregAbbott announced that the state of Texas will place a 1,000-foot floating barrier in the middle of the Rio Grande river to stop migrants from entering the US at the city of Eagle Pass. — Former British prime minister Boris Johnson is resigning from Parliament, accusing a House of Commons investigation of his Covid era partying of being motivated to “drive me out.” — New York Rep. George Santos is appealing a ruling that he must reveal the names of the people who posted $500,000 to bail him out of jail. Santos says they are family members he wants to protect, but the House Ethics Committee wants to know whether the bail money constitutes an illegal gift. 

Below the Fold: A University of South Florida professor has come to the surface after breaking the world record for the longest time living underwater. Joseph Dituri broke the record on the 73rd day of his 100-day submersion. He was researching how the body and mind reacts to being isolated  and confined in an extreme environment. Well, his cholesterol dropped, he slept better, and shrunk half an inch. 

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