In a historic development Donald Trump has been indicted for charges connected to his alleged retention of national security documents.
The charges – which include willful retention of national security material, obstruction and conspiracy, according to a person familiar with the matter – came more than a year after federal prosecutors began investigating the former president for knowingly retaining the classified materials at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida after he left office.
The White House has not issued a statement or commented on the indictment, aside from emphasizing that the Justice Department investigation is independent and not reporting to the Biden Administration.
One official told CNN that the president learned of the charges along with the public from this evening’s news coverage.
In a 4-minute video posted to Truth Social, Trump argued that he’s innocent and that this is a politically motivated attack – a rallying cry he’s used through the years to bolster his base and deny the many accusations made against him.
“I’m an innocent man. I’m an innocent person,” he said, calling the investigation “election interference at the highest level”.
He used the video to frame his presidency in a favorable light before saying that “our country is going to hell”.
“We’re a failing nation” he said. “And this is what they do.”
Here’s a bit of background on the case and what we know so far:
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Trump shared the news on Truth Social, telling his followers that he must appear at the federal courthouse in Miami on Tuesday.
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This is the first time the former president has been charged with federal criminal charges by the justice department, but are only one part of his mounting legal troubles. He was also indicted by a Manhattan grand jury in March, faces state criminal charges in New York and is being investigated by the district attorney in Fulton county, Georgia, over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
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The justice department inquiry, headed by special counsel Jack Smith, has been investigating whether Trump illegally handled documents and this indictment signifies their case is a strong one. As my colleague Sam Levine points out:
The justice department is generally extremely careful when they choose to bring cases and so the fact that prosecutors felt confident enough to indict Trump, knowing the political maelstrom that would result, is a signal of the strength of the case against him.
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Among the evidence against Trump is a 2021 recording, where he can be heard discussing one of the classified documents. First reported by CNN, on the recording he refers to the document as classified, undercutting his defense that he declassified the documents during his presidency.
In a historic development Donald Trump has been indicted for charges connected to his alleged retention of national security documents.
The charges – which include willful retention of national security material, obstruction and conspiracy, according to a person familiar with the matter – came more than a year after federal prosecutors began investigating the former president for knowingly retaining the classified materials at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida after he left office.
