Former President Donald Trump will appear in a Miami court later Tuesday, making him the first US president to face federal charges.
Trump is accused of violating seven laws and charged with 37 felonies, each related to his withholding of hundreds of classified government documents, according to an indictment unsealed Friday.
The indictment accuses Trump of illegally withholding documents detailing some of America’s best-kept secrets, sharing their content with people without proper security clearance, and storing them in insecure locations.
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The charges are the culmination of the federal government’s multiyear efforts to recover documents from Trump’s private residence in Palm Beach, Florida, which the prosecution also alleges he tried to obstruct.
Trump has insisted that he did nothing wrong. The impeachment «will go down as one of the most horrifying abuses of power in the history of our country,» Trump told a rally of Georgia Republicans on Saturday.
Here’s a closer look at the origins of the research and what’s next:
From Pennsylvania Avenue to Mar-a-Lago
Weeks before leaving the White House, Trump and his aides packed his personal belongings, including letters, cards and «hundreds of classified documents,» into boxes, according to the indictment.
They transported the boxes to Mar-a-Lago, the golf club and Trump’s new residence, at one point storing them in a ballroom and shower room, among other places, according to the indictment.
Some of the boxes contained classified documents detailing sensitive US defense information, including potential US vulnerability points to a foreign military attack, the County’s potential plan to retaliate against such an attack, and information about US nuclear programs USA, the prosecution alleges.
Prosecutors say Mar-a-Lago hosted events for «tens of thousands of members and guests» after Trump left the White House and was not an approved place to store classified documents, which the indictment says are government «property.» from USA
Trump has claimed that he declassified the documents before leaving the White House. But the indictment argues that Trump knew his administration failed to complete the accepted declassification process, and accuses him of showing the documents to people without security clearance, including the author of a book.
The indictment, which does not name the author, includes a transcript of a July 2021 conversation Trump had with the writer about a classified military document described as an «attack plan» against another country. The conversation, which the prosecution says was recorded with Trump’s knowledge, was first reported by CNN.
“Look, as president, I could have declassified” the document, Trump told the book’s author, according to the transcript. «I can’t right now».
«Secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this,» Trump said.
A two year investigation
In May 2021, The National Archives began asking Trump and his staff to return all missing presidential records, according to email communications between the archives and Trump’s lawyers that were later made public.
Two of Trump’s aides returned 15 boxes of records to the National Archives eight months later, in January 2022. The Archives soon determined that 14 of the boxes contained classified documents and referred their discovery to the Justice Department, the indictment says.
The FBI opened a criminal investigation in March 2022, and a grand jury issued a subpoena in May requiring Trump to return all remaining classified documents in his possession, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors say Trump tried to obstruct the FBI and grand jury investigations by providing only some of the subpoenaed documents, even as he said he was cooperating with the grand jury lawsuit.
Trump also suggested that his lawyer should «hide or destroy» the subpoenaed documents and instructed Walt Nauta, his personal assistant, who is also facing federal charges, to move and hide boxes of classified documents from the FBI, the grand jury and Trump himself. lawyer, says the prosecution.
The researchers say that obtained security video in July showing Trump aides moving boxes of classified documents. The FBI obtained a warrant to search Mar-a-Lago and in August found 11 more sets of documents on the property, including some labeled «SCI,” which stands for highly classified «confidential compartmentalized information».
After the search, Trump and a chorus of other Republicans accused the Biden administration of arming the Justice Department to go after a political opponent.
Trump then claimed the documents were protected by executive privilege and requested that a judge appoint a «special master» to review them.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon initially appointed a special teacher, a move many legal experts said was «deeply flawed.» The Supreme Court in October rejected Trump’s request to allow the special master to review the seized classified documents.
As the Justice Department continued to investigate his handling of classified documents and efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 election, Trump announced another run for the White House in November.
the same month, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Jack Smith, former chief prosecutor of the special court in The Hague, as special counsel to chair the two investigations, saying the move was «in the public interest» because both Trump and President Joe Biden are candidates in the next election. Trump called the attorney general’s decision «appalling» and a «horrendous abuse of power.»
Six months after his appointment, Smith’s office unsealed the indictment Friday charging Trump with 37 felonies.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence opened a damage assessment into Trump’s handling of classified documents in August. He has yet to present his findings to Congress, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., vice chair of the Intelligence Committee and a congressional aide with knowledge of the matter, said last week.
He The congressional aide said lawmakers had been briefed on the documents found at Mar-a-Lago, but it was not yet clear when the full evaluation would be completed. The intelligence director’s office declined to comment.
Whats Next?
Trump will make his first court appearance before a magistrate judge in Florida on Tuesday. A trial date has not been set; Smith has promised to try the case quickly.
The trial will be overseen by Cannon, the same judge who gave the green light to Trump’s special master request, though she will not oversee Tuesday’s proceedings.
Some of the charges carry maximum sentences of 20 years in prison.
Other investigations are ongoing
Trump still faces other potential legal hurdles.
The Manhattan district attorney indicted Trump in April in connection with Secret payments made to two women before the 2016 election. Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, with his trial set to begin in March.
Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis is investigating Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. elections in Georgia and has said he will announce whether he intends to impeach Trump this summer.
Smith, the special counsel, is also continuing to investigate the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol and Trump’s attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat. Last week, a federal grand jury in Washington, DC, subpoenaed Trump White House official Steve Bannon in connection with the Smith investigation, two sources familiar with the matter said.