Donald Trump indicted in classified documents case – NBC4 Washington

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Donald Trump has been indicted on charges of mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate, a dramatic development that makes him the first former president in US history to face federal criminal charges. government that he once administered.

The Justice Department is expected to make public the seven-count indictment ahead of a historic court appearance next week amid a 2024 presidential campaign underpinned by criminal prosecutions in multiple states.

The charges include making false statements and conspiracy to obstruct, two sources told NBC News. All the cases are related to the retention of documents and obstruction of justice. A source noted that seven charges does not necessarily mean seven are the many numbers that can be associated with each charge.

Appearing Thursday night on CNN, Trump attorney James Trusty said the indictment includes charges of knowingly withholding national defense information that is a crime under the Espionage Act, which oversees the government’s handling of secret obstructions. false statements and conspiracy.

The indictment carries undeniably serious legal consequences, including the possibility of jail time if Trump is convicted.

But it also has far-reaching political implications, potentially upending a Trump-dominated Republican presidential primary and once again testing the willingness of GOP voters and party leaders to stick with a candidate who has now been indicted twice who could face more cases. And it sets the stage for a sensational trial centered on claims that a man once entrusted with safeguarding the nation’s most closely guarded secrets knowingly, and illegally, hoarded sensitive national security information.

The Justice Department did not immediately confirm the accusation to the public. 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 Thursday on his Truth Social platform that he had been indicted.

Within minutes of his announcement, Trump, who said he was due in court Tuesday afternoon in Miami, began fundraising for his presidential campaign. He declared his innocence in a video and repeated his familiar refrain that the investigation was a witch hunt.

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. But of the various investigations he faces, legal experts as well as Trump’s own aides have long seen the Mar-a-Lago investigation as the most dangerous threat and the one ripest for prosecution 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.

The inquiry took a major step forward in November when Attorney General Merrick Garland, a soft-spoken former federal judge who has long argued that no person should be considered above the law, appointed Jack Smith, a prosecutor of war crimes with an aggressive, hard-charging reputation to lead both the documents investigation as well as a separate investigation into efforts to subvert the 2020 election.

The case is a milestone for a Justice Department that has investigated Trump for years as president and as a private citizen but has never charged him with a crime. The most notable probe was an earlier special counsel probe into ties between his 2016 campaign and Russia, but prosecutors in that probe cited the Justice Department’s policy against indicting a sitting president . However, when he left the office, he lost his protection.

The indictment stems from a months-long investigation into whether Trump violated the law by handling hundreds of documents marked classified at his Palm Beach property, Mar-a-Lago, and whether Trump took steps to prevent the government’s efforts to recover the records.

Prosecutors said Trump brought about 300 classified documents to Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House, including about 100 the FBI seized in August during a search of the home that highlighted the weight of the Justice Department’s investigation. Trump has repeatedly asserted that he had the right to keep classified documents when he left the White House, and has also claimed without evidence that he declassified them.

Trusty claimed in an interview on NBC’s “TODAY” that the charges against Trump have no criminal basis under the Presidential Records Act, and called the accusation an overreach, saying that something that is not criminal for past presidents were made weapons by the Department of Justice. However, the charges Trump faces fall under the Espionage Act.

A judge released a redacted affidavit Friday, outlining the Justice Department’s probable cause for the Aug. 8 search of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.

Court records unsealed last year showed that federal investigators believe they have probable cause that multiple crimes were committed, including retention of national defense information, destruction of government records and interception. .

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.

However, it remains unclear how much it will damage Trump’s standing since his initial impeachment generated millions of dollars in contributions from angry supporters and did not weaken him in the polls.

The former president has long sought to use his legal troubles 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. that he once again relied on that playbook, reviving his long-standing claim that the Justice Department that, during his presidency, investigated whether his 2016 campaign colluded with Russia was somehow weaponized against him.

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

Smith is separately investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. And the district attorney in Georgias Fulton County is investigating Trump for alleged efforts to sabotage the 2020 election in that state.

Signs have emerged for weeks that an indictment is imminent, including a meeting Monday between Trump’s lawyers and Justice Department officials. His lawyers were also recently notified that he is the target of the investigation, the clearest sign that an indictment is imminent.

Although much of the investigative work has been handled in Washington, with a grand jury meeting there for months, it emerged recently that prosecutors were presenting evidence before a separate panel in Florida, where the many of the alleged acts of obstruction examined by prosecutors. .

The Justice Department said Trump has 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.

A search warrant, obtained by NBC News, for the Mar-a-Lago home of former President Donald Trump says 11 sets of classified documents, including some marked top secret, were removed.

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.

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 classified documents hidden in a storage room and desk drawer and mixed with personal belongings. . 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 President Joe Biden’s Delaware home and former Washington office, as well as former Vice President Mike Pence’s home in Indiana. The Justice Department recently informed Pence that he will not face charges, while a second special counsel continues to investigate Bidens handling of classified documents.

But compared to Trump, there are key differences in the factual and legal issues surrounding the Bidens and Pences’ handling of the documents, with representatives of both men saying the documents were voluntarily given to investigators. once they are 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.

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Tucker reported from Washington. Colvin reported from Des Moines, Iowa.

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