Miami: Donald Trump has said he has been indicted on charges of mishandling classified documents at a Florida estate, igniting a federal prosecution that is the most dangerous of several legal threats against the former president as he want to reclaim the White House. The Justice Department did not immediately publicly confirm the indictment. But two people familiar with the situation who were not authorized to discuss it publicly said the indictment included seven criminal counts. One of those people said Trump’s lawyers were contacted by prosecutors shortly before he announced on his Truth social platform that he had been charged.
The indictment embroiled the Justice Department in one of the most politically explosive prosecutions in its long history. Its first case against a former president escalates into a Republican presidential primary that Trump currently dominates, and any felony charge would likely carry a prison sentence of up to one year.
Within 20 minutes of his announcement, Trump, who said he was in court Tuesday afternoon, had begun fundraising for his 2024 presidential campaign. He declared in a video, “I am an innocent man!” and reiterated his well-known denial that the investigation is a “witch hunt”.
The case deepens a legal crisis for Trump, who has already pleaded guilty in New York and faces additional investigations in Washington and Atlanta that could lead to criminal charges. As the prosecution moves forward, it will pit Trump’s claims of broad executive power against Attorney General Merrick Garland’s mantra that no one should be considered above the law, including the former commander in chief.
The indictment stems from a months-long investigation by special counsel Jack Smith into whether Trump broke the law by withholding hundreds of classified documents at his Palm Beach estate, Mar-a-Lago, and whether Trump violated government efforts to recover took steps to prevent record.
Prosecutors have said that Trump took about 300 classified documents to Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House, including some 100 that were seized by the FBI in a search of the house last August, which was part of a Justice Department investigation. underlines the seriousness of
Trump and his team have long viewed the special counsel’s investigation as far more dangerous, both politically and legally, than the New York case. Campaign aides were forced to decline after Trump’s lawyers were informed that he was the target of the investigation, assuming not whether charges would be brought, but when.
But it’s unclear what the immediate and long-term political consequences will be for Trump. His first impeachment inspired millions of dollars in contributions from angry supporters and didn’t hurt Trump in the polls. No matter what, the indictment—and the legal battle that follows—will thrust Trump back into the spotlight, taking attention away from other candidates who are trying to build momentum in the 2024 presidential race.
Trump has insisted that he was entitled to keep the classified documents when he left the White House, and claims without evidence that he declassified them. The case is a milestone for the Justice Department, which had investigated Trump for years “as president and as a private citizen” but had never previously charged him with a crime. Garland was appointed by President Joe Biden, who is seeking re-election in 2024.
The former president has long sought to use the mounting legal troubles to his political advantage, complaining on social media and at public events that the cases are being pursued by Democratic prosecutors to hurt his 2024 re-election campaign. Are. He is likely to rely on that playbook again, reviving his longstanding claims that the Justice Department’s investigation during his presidency into whether his 2016 campaign colluded with Russia was somehow weaponized against him. Is.
Of the various state and federal investigations facing Trump, legal experts “including Trump’s own former attorney general” had long seen the Mar-a-Lago investigation as the one most likely to result in an indictment and where the evidence seemed in favor. Government. Court records unsealed last year show that federal investigators believed they had probable cause that several crimes had been committed, including the retention of national defense information, the destruction of government records and an investigation Constraints are included.
Since then, the Justice Department has collected additional evidence and obtained grand jury testimony from people close to Trump, including his own attorneys. The laws governing classified records and interceptions are felonies that can lead to years in prison in the event of a conviction.
Signs had been mounting for weeks that an impeachment was imminent, including a June 5 meeting between Trump’s lawyers and Justice Department officials. After that meeting, Trump said on social media that he anticipated he might be indicted, even as he insisted he had done nothing wrong.
Although most of the investigative work was conducted in Washington, with a grand jury meeting there for months, it recently emerged that prosecutors were presenting evidence before a separate panel in Florida, where several alleged acts of obstruction by prosecutors were reported. There were “attempts to move the boxes”, including those examined.
Trump’s legal troubles go beyond the New York indictment and the matter of classified documents. The special counsel has a separate ongoing investigation focused on efforts by Trump and his associates to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. And the district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, is investigating Trump over alleged efforts to sabotage the 2020 election in that state.
The classified documents were moved from the White House to the Florida Club at Mar-a-Lago, along with thousands of other declassified government records, after Trump leaves office in January 2021.
The Justice Department has said that Trump and his lawyers repeatedly resisted the National Archives and Records Administration’s efforts to retrieve the documents. After months of back-and-forth, Trump’s representatives returned 15 boxes of records in January 2022, containing about 184 documents that officials said had classified markings on them.
FBI and Justice Department investigators issued subpoenas in May 2022 for classified documents that were in Trump’s possession. But a lawyer for Trump provided three dozen records and claimed a diligent search of the property had been conducted, prompting authorities to suspect there were more documents left. They obtained surveillance footage boxes of records being moved from a storage room at Mar-a-Lago.
The investigation had been slow for months before bursting onto the front page in remarkable fashion last August. That’s when FBI agents executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago and removed 33 boxes containing classified records, including top-secret documents kept in a storage room and desk drawers and found with personal belongings. Had happened The Justice Department has said some of the records were so sensitive that investigators needed an advanced security clearance to review them.
The Trump investigation appeared complicated “politically, if not legally” by the discovery of documents with classified markings at the Delaware home and former Washington office of President Joe Biden, as well as the Indiana home of former Vice President Mike Pence. The Justice Department recently notified Pence that he would not face charges, while a second special counsel continues an investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents.
But compared to Trump, there are significant differences in the facts and legal issues surrounding Biden and Pence’s handling of the documents, with representatives for both men saying the documents were returned as soon as they were received.
In contrast, investigators quickly looked into whether Trump, who has expressed disdain for the FBI and Justice Department for four years as president, tried to obstruct the investigation by refusing to turn over all requested documents. Had demanded The focus on the obstruction is reminiscent of the special counsel probe Trump faced as president, when prosecutors probed whether Trump illegally tried to sabotage the Russia probe, including by firing his FBI director. Included.