Donald Trump has been indicted in Mar-a-Lago classified documents probe
By Farrah Tomazin
Washington: Donald Trump has become the first former US president to face federal charges and will appear in court next week over the alleged mishandling of classified documents.
The Republican posted on Truth Social on Thursday night that he had been summonsed to appear in court on Tuesday afternoon, capping off an explosive investigation that began last August when the FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago property searching for sensitive material that he had taken from the White House.
Donald Trump is the first former US president to be indicted.Credit: afr
“The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax,” he wrote.
“I have been summoned to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday, at 3 PM. I never thought it possible that such a thing could happen to a former President of the United States who ... is currently leading, by far, all Candidates, both Democrat and Republican, in Polls of the 2024 Presidential Election. I AM AN INNOCENT MAN!”
The indictment was filed in a Federal District Court in Miami after a grand jury investigation, making Trump the first US president in history to face federal charges. The 76-year-old Republican was charged at the end of March over alleged hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, but that involved a Manhattan grand jury in a state-based probe overseen by Democratic District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
The documents probe was led by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed by the federal Justice Department to examine whether Trump had mishandled classified documents he retained after leaving the White House in 2021.
Investigators seized more than 300 classified documents from Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, nearly a year ago, including some that had been labelled “Top Secret”. Trump’s lawyers had previously said all records with classified markings had been returned to the government.
While Smith and the department have not commented on the matter, Trump’s lawyer, James Trusty, confirmed his client had been indicted on seven counts, but they had not yet seen the indictment papers. He suggested those counts might involve a violation of the Espionage Act, false-statement charges and “several obstruction-based type charges.”
Trusty also confirmed Trump would show up in court and “is not shrinking from the fight”. But there would be “no arrests, no warrant, none of that kind of nonsense,” he told CNN.
Smith is also investigating Trump’s role in the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, in which he attempted to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory.
And in yet another legal woe that is expected to come to a head shortly, Trump is also under investigation in Georgia for attempting to influence the 2020 Electoral College outcome in that state.
Last month, a civil jury also found Trump had sexually abused and defamed New York author E. Jean Carroll, and awarded her $US5 million ($7.4 million) in damages.
Trump has repeatedly characterised every investigation as a “politically motivated witch-hunt” and “election interference at the highest level”.
And in a sign that many Republicans agree, he continues to be the overwhelming frontrunner to win the party’s nomination to run for the White House again next year, with most polls placing him more than 30 points above his closest rival, Ron DeSantis.
As news of the indictment broke on Thursday night, many senior Republicans rallied around the former president.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said: “Today is indeed a dark day for the United States of America.”
He added: “I, and every American who believes in the rule of law, stand with President Trump against this grave injustice.”
DeSantis said that federal law enforcement had been “weaponised” in America and a “DeSantis administration will bring accountability to the DOJ, excise political bias and end weaponisation once and for all”.
And presenters on Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News, which until recently appeared to have cooled on Trump, said there was something nefarious about the timing of the indictment, which occurred hours after Fox News Digital ran an unsourced story alleging Biden had years ago been paid $5 million by an executive of a Ukraine national gas firm where his son, Hunter, was a board member.
The news that Trump is facing federal charges comes 17 months before the next election, and two months before the first Republican presidential primary debate. This week, the already crowded field of candidates seeking to run for president got even larger, with the entry of Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum.
But Trump is not the only person to come under investigation for their handling of classified documents. On November 2 last year, six days before the US midterm elections, Biden’s personal lawyers unexpectedly found classified documents, from his time in the Obama administration, at the Penn Biden Centre think-tank in Washington, DC, where he had an office after his vice-presidential term.
The records were handed back to the National Archives immediately, in contrast to Trump’s attempt to thwart the investigation into his own matter. Weeks later, Biden’s lawyers confirmed a “small number” of additional classified documents were found at two locations in the president’s home. The inquiry, by special counsel Robert Hur, is yet to conclude.
Classified documents were also found in Pence’s home, but the department last week said the matter had ended and no charges would be laid.
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