Trump said he was subpoenaed in federal court in Miami. Photo: AFP
Donald Trump is indicted by a federal grand jury for alleged possession of classified government documents and obstruction of justice, another legal setback for the former president as he aims to be president again next year.
Federal charges represent the biggest legal danger to date. for Mr. Trump, less than three months after he was indicted in New York for 34 felony felony business records.
Here's a look at the charges and what the case means for Mr. Trump.
What is Donald Trump accused of?
The Justice Department is investigating Mr. Trump for the possession of classified documents and other government records at his Mar-a-Lago resort after he left the White House in early 2021.
Documents must be transferred to the National Archives when the president leaves office.
In August 2022, the FBI raided the estate of the former US president in Florida, and so far, investigators have found about 300 classified documents in it.
The investigation was led by Special Counsel Jack Smith, a former chief prosecutor for The Hague.
What are the charges?
Mr. Trump has been charged with seven counts of mishandling classified documents, including conspiracy to target. Sources told The New York Times that they obstruct and intentionally withhold documents.
The indictment against Trump remains closed. But once the document is made public, it will lay out the crimes that Trump is accused of.
This is the second time that Mr. Trump, the first former US president to face criminal charges, has been charged.
What does this mean for Trump?
This is important because this is the first time a former US president has been federal criminal charges. Other criminal cases against Mr. Trump are pending in state courts.
The federal government's indictment carries serious legal consequences, including the possibility of imprisonment if Mr. Trump is found guilty.
Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump's home Photo: GETTY IMAGES
The DOJ usually selects only those cases they think have a good chance of winning, which speaks to the strength of the charges against it.< /p>
However, days after he was indicted in a Manhattan court for alleged silence payments, he raised $7 million in a few days, so it could have worked as a major election fundraiser.
What did Trump say?
He said he was an “innocent person”, the investigation was a “prank” and a “witch hunt”, and accused Joe Biden and the Democrats of interfering in the election.
What gave rise to an investigation?
Officials with the National Archives and Records Administration reached out to Trump's representatives in the spring of 2021 when they realized their collection was missing important material from his time in office.
According to the Presidential Records Act, White's home papers are considered property of the US government and must be preserved.
In December 2021, a Trump spokesman told the National Archives that the president's papers had been found in Mar-a-Lago. In January 2022, the National Archives discovered 15 boxes of documents from Trump's home in Floridaboxes from the White House on his last day in office in 2021. Photo: GETTY IMAGES
In May 2022, the FBI and the Department of Justice issued a subpoena regarding the remaining classified documents in Trump's possession. Investigators who collected the records received about three dozen documents and sworn statements from Trump's lawyers confirming that the requested information was returned.
But this claim turned out to be false. After receiving a search warrant, federal officials returned to Mar-a-Lago in August 2022 and seized more than 33 boxes and containers containing 11,000 documents, including 100 classified documents, from the vault and office.
Who is this Jack Smith?
Last year, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Mr. Smith, an experienced war crimes prosecutor with experience in corruption investigations, to lead an investigation into the possession of classified documents at Mr. Trump's Florida estate.
Mr. Garland himself was chosen by Democratic President Joe Biden, so Mr. Smith's appointment was an acknowledgment of the policy involved in investigating the case of the former president and current White House candidate.
Special advisers are appointed in cases where when the DOJ thinks it has a conflict, or when it's thought it's in the public interest to bring in someone outside the government and take charge of the case.
What other charges matter. Is he in danger? January 6 Capitol attack
Jack Smith is also investigating Trump's role in his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, culminating in the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
Mr. Trump sought to prevent his top aides, including his then Vice President Mike Pence, from testifying in the case, which was being heard by a separate D.C. grand jury. Mr. Pence appeared before a grand jury in April after Mr. Trump lost his lawsuit.
An attempt to cancel the vote in Georgia
Fulton County District Attorney Fanny Willis is investigating whether Mr. Trump and others are illegal to try to undo his defeat in that state's 2020 presidential election. The fee decision is expected in September.
The criminal investigation focuses in part on Trump's phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger asking him to “find” enough votes to overturn Trump's Georgia loss. Trump became the first former president in US history to be indicted by a New York grand jury.
He pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business documents relating to silence money paid to a porn star before the election 2016
Sexual Assault and Defamation
Last month, a federal grand jury in Manhattan ordered Trump to pay $5 million in damages to magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll after he was found guilty of sexual assault over her in the 1990s and then slander her by lying about it in 2022.
She is trying to amend a separate lawsuit seeking another $10 million after Mr. Trump publicly commented on CNN and his social media platform, criticizing the verdict. denying that he ever met her and accusing her of making up allegations.
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