Donald Trump Indicted on Mishandling Classified Documents Charges – The Hollywood Reporter

[ad_1]

Donald Trump said Thursday that he has been charged with mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate, sparking a federal prosecution that is likely the most dangerous of the many legal threats against the former president as he seeks to reclaim the White House.

The Justice Department did not immediately publicly confirm the accusation. But two people familiar with the situation who were not authorized to discuss it publicly said the indictment includes seven criminal counts. One of those people said Trump’s lawyers contacted prosecutors shortly before he announced on his Truth Social platform that he had been indicted.

The indictment plunged the Justice Department into the most politically explosive prosecution in its long history. Its first charge against a former president raises a Republican presidential primary currently dominated by Trump, and any felony charges would raise the prospect of a year-long prison sentence.

Within 20 minutes of his announcement, Trump, who said he was due in court Tuesday afternoon, began fundraising for his 2024 presidential campaign. He declared in a video, “I AM AN INNOCENT MAN !” and repeated his familiar refrain that the investigation was a “catcher.”

The case adds to deepening legal jeopardy for Trump, who has already been indicted in New York and faces additional investigations in Washington and Atlanta that could also lead to criminal charges. As the prosecution moves forward, it will pit Trump’s claims of sweeping executive power against Attorney General Merrick Garland’s frequent assertion that no one, including a former commander in chief, should be considered above law

The indictment stems from a months-long investigation by special counsel Jack Smith into whether Trump violated the law by handling hundreds of documents marked classified at his Palm Beach estate, Mar-a-Lago, and whether Trump takes steps to thwart the government’s recovery efforts. the records.

Prosecutors said Trump took about 300 classified documents to Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House, including about 100 the FBI seized in August in a search of the home that underscores the weight of the Justice investigation. Department.

Trump and his team have long seen the special counsel’s investigation as more dangerous than the New York matter — both politically and legally. Campaign aides have been bracing for the fallout since Trump’s lawyers were notified that he was the target of the investigation, assuming it wasn’t a matter of if charges would be brought, but when.

But it remains unclear what the immediate and long-term political consequences are for Trump. His first accusation prompted millions of dollars in contributions from angry supporters and did Trump no harm in the polls. Regardless, the indictment — and the legal battle that follows — will thrust Trump back into the spotlight, siphoning attention from other candidates trying to build momentum in the 2024 presidential race.

Trump insisted he had the right to keep the classified documents when he left the White House, and also claimed without evidence that he had declassified them.

The case is a milestone for a Justice Department that has investigated Trump for years — both as president and as a private citizen — but has yet to charge him with a crime. Garland was nominated by President Joe Biden, who is seeking re-election in 2024.

The former president has long sought to use mounting legal problems to his political advantage, complaining on social media and at public events that the charges are being pushed by Democratic prosecutors to hurt his 2024 election campaign. he relied on that playbook again, reviving his long-standing claim that the Justice Department — which, during his presidency, investigated whether his 2016 campaign colluded with Russia — was somehow made a weapon against him.

Among the various state and federal investigations Trump faces, legal experts — including Trump’s former attorney general — have long seen the Mar-a-Lago probe as one of the most likely to result in indictment and one where the evidence seems to favor the government. Court records unsealed last year showed that federal investigators believe they have probable cause that multiple crimes were committed, including withholding national defense information, destroying government records and intercepting in an investigation.

Since then, the Justice Department has gathered additional evidence and obtained grand jury testimony from people close to Trump, including his own lawyers. The laws governing the handling of classified records and obstruction are felonies that can carry years in prison if convicted.

Signs have emerged for weeks that an indictment 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 expected to be indicted, though he insisted he had done nothing wrong.

Although much of the investigative work has been handled in Washington, with a grand jury meeting there for months, it emerged recently that prosecutors are presenting evidence before a separate panel in Florida, if where many of the alleged acts of obstruction examined by prosecutors – including efforts to move the boxes – took place.

Trump’s legal troubles extend beyond the New York impeachment case and classified documents.

The special counsel has a separate investigation underway focused on efforts by Trump and his allies to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election. And the district attorney in Georgia’s Fulton County is investigating Trump over alleged efforts to sabotage the 2020 election in that state.

The classified Mar-a-Lago documents, along with thousands of other unclassified government records, were moved from the White House to the Florida club after Trump left office in January 2021.

The Justice Department said Trump and his lawyers have repeatedly resisted efforts by the National Archives and Records Administration to return the documents. After months of back-and-forth, Trump representatives returned 15 boxes of records in January 2022, including about 184 documents that officials said were marked classified.

FBI and Justice Department investigators issued a subpoena in May 2022 for classified documents that remained in Trump’s possession. But after a Trump lawyer provided three dozen records and insisted that a diligent search of the property had been made, officials came to suspect that more documents remained. They obtained a surveillance footage box of records that had been moved from a storage room at Mar-a-Lago.

The investigation simmered for months before bursting into front-page news in spectacular fashion in August. FBI agents then served a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago and removed 33 boxes containing classified records, including secret documents hidden in a storage room and desk drawer and combined with personal use. Some records are so sensitive that investigators need enhanced security clearances to review them, the Justice Department said.

The Trump investigation has been 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 informed Pence that he will not face charges, while a second special counsel continues to investigate Biden’s handling of classified documents.

But compared to Trump, there are key differences in the factual and legal issues surrounding the handling of documents by Biden and Pence, with representatives of both men saying the documents were returned once they were found.

Conversely, investigators quickly zeroed in on whether Trump, who during his four years as president has expressed disdain for the FBI and Justice Department, sought to obstruct the inquiry by refusing to hand over everything requested. that document. The focus on obstruction is reminiscent of the special counsel investigation Trump faced as president, when prosecutors examined whether Trump illegally tried to obstruct the Russia investigation, including firing his FBI director.

[ad_2]