Trump claims he faces indictment in classified document case
The former US president has claimed on his Truth Social platform that he is being subpoenaed to appear in federal court.
Former US President Donald Trump has claimed on his Truth Social platform that he is being charged on federal charges that he mishandled classified documents when leaving the White House.
“I have been summoned to appear before the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday,” he wrote in the post. “I never imagined that something like this could happen to a former president of the United States.”
If true, the indictment would be yet another “first” for the scandal-ridden Republican: Never before has a US president, current or former, faced federal charges.
Earlier in April, Trump became the first US president to face criminal charges after Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg announced 34 state-level felonies for falsifying business records in a case involving a hush money payment to an adult film actress.
Thursday’s announcement came as part of an ongoing U.S. Justice Department investigation, led by special counsel Jack Smith, into the boxes of classified documents recovered from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
News agencies, including the Associated Press and Reuters, have reported that the ex-president faces seven charges in connection with the investigation.
In the wake of the August 2022 Mar-a-Lago search, several other high-profile politicians — including current U.S. President Joe Biden and Trump’s former Vice President Mike Pence — have also stepped forward through their attorneys to turn over classified documents documents kept in their homes.
But many experts have indicated that Trump’s case is different: The Federal Bureau of Investigation had to issue a subpoena for classified documents that remained in the former president’s possession after he left the White House.
And when FBI investigators came to believe that there were even more documents at Mar-a-Lago, a search warrant was issued for the property, resulting in the recovery of about 100 additional documents with secret markings, bringing the total to 300 came.
Experts have warned Trump may face charges of obstruction for his conduct in the investigation. An FBI affidavit, dated August 2022, describes a criminal investigation into the “improper removal and storage of classified information in unauthorized areas, as well as the unlawful concealment or deletion of government records.”
And then there was the amount of records recovered: According to the affidavit, a total of 15 boxes of records were removed from Mar-a-Lago.
In his social media posts on Thursday, Trump lashed out at Biden for defeating him in his 2020 reelection campaign.
“The corrupt Biden administration has informed my lawyers that I have been charged, apparently over the Boxes Hoax,” Trump wrote, referring to the 15 boxes removed. He accused Biden of hypocrisy, claiming that the current president had “spread documents all over his garage floor” when officials searched his Delaware residence.
This is an evolving news item. More updates to follow.