Donald Trump said Thursday night he was indicted on federal charges related to documents found at his Florida Mar-a-Lago residence, the latest legal woe to hit the former US president as he mounted another White House run.
“The corrupt Biden administration has informed my lawyers that I have been charged, apparently because of the Boxes Hoax,” Trump said on his Truth Social social media platform. He said he was “subpoenaed” in federal court in Miami, Florida, on Tuesday.
“This is indeed a DARK DAY for the United States of America,” he wrote.
The Justice Department declined to comment. Trump’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The indictment puts more legal pressure on Trump and marks the first time a former US president has been charged by federal criminal charges. He is charged in a separate criminal case in New York state court, where he was charged earlier this year by the Manhattan district attorney.
A criminal conviction would not disqualify Trump from running for the White House. But legal proceedings could be a hurdle for his campaign as the 2024 election schedule begins to take shape. The first Republican presidential debate is scheduled for August, although it is not clear whether Trump will participate.
The federal case appears to involve documents seized by Mar-a-Lago agents in August. The raid came after the ex-president had already handed over 15 boxes of classified documents, including some marked “top secret,” to the government after months of negotiations with DoJ officials. Trump had stored the material in an unsecured room at his Florida home for just over a year.
Trump told CNN in May that he “brought the records” because he “allowed” him to do so under the Presidential Records Act, a law that governs who controls presidency records and other records. The law says that official presidential documents are the property of the US, not the president, and must be kept in a federal depository after the official leaves the White House.
Trump is not the only politician facing an investigation into presidential records. The DoJ has assigned a second special counsel to investigate the possible mishandling of documents found in President Joe Biden’s Delaware garage and his former Washington private office. That investigation is ongoing.
Secret documents were also found in the home of Mike Pence, Trump’s former vice president who is challenging his former boss for the 2024 Republican nomination. The Justice Department recently closed the investigation without filing any charges, according to reports in the media.
Jack Smith, the US special counsel who has led the Trump investigation, was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November to oversee investigations involving the former president.
Trump could face even more legal trouble, following separate probes led by Smith at the DoJ and Fani Willis, Georgia’s Fulton County District Attorney, regarding the 2020 presidential election. said any charges stemming from those probes could pose a more serious threat to him.
Earlier this year, Willis said her decision whether to press charges based on a special grand jury investigation was “imminent.” Upon his appointment, Smith said he would “proceed with investigations expeditiously and thoroughly.” Trump has maintained that he did nothing wrong.
New York Attorney General Letitia James also filed a civil lawsuit against Trump and three of his adult children, alleging large-scale fraud related to the Trump Organization. In yet another case, Trump was recently ordered to pay journalist E Jean Carroll $5 million after he was found liable in a civil suit alleging sexual assault and libel.
The legal action doesn’t appear to have had much effect on Trump’s popularity with Republican voters — most polls show him commanding a lead over other presidential candidates from his party.
