Former President Donald Trump is now facing his second indictment — this time, from the feds.
Trump announced in posts on Truth Social Thursday evening that the government had informed his attorneys that he had been indicted, and that he should report to the federal courthouse in Miami Tuesday afternoon. The New York Times confirmed the indictment, citing multiple people familiar with the matter.
The indictment itself and its specific charges have not yet been released, but Trump wrote that it was “seemingly over the Boxes Hoax” — meaning, special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump for the classified documents held at Mar-a-Lago, which according to multiple reports had been nearing an indictment decision. CNN and the Times both reported that Trump has been indicted on seven counts.
Of the four criminal investigations into Trump currently unfolding, this would be the second to result in charges, after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecution of Trump for falsifying business records.
Smith is also investigating Trump’s attempt to remain in office after he lost the 2020 presidential election, but that probe has not yet resulted in charges. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is also probing Trump’s attempt to overturn Joe Biden’s win in Georgia.
The key fact at the center of the Mar-a-Lago case is clear enough: Trump had classified documents at Mar-a-Lago at the time of that search that were the property of the US government, and that had not been returned to the government despite requests and subpoenas.
But many of the bigger questions remain a mystery: Why did Trump keep the documents? What happened to the documents while he had them? What’s the evidence that he knew he was breaking the law? And did he knowingly try to deceive the government about whether he still had classified material — something that could open him up to an obstruction of justice charge?
The background of the classified documents…
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