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Donald Trump described a “plan of attack” devised by the Pentagon and shared a classified military map with a member of his political action committee who didn’t have a security clearance, the 37-count indictment against the former president shows. The indictment was unsealed on Friday afternoon. More follows...

Former president Donald Trump showed highly-classified information to unauthorised persons on two separate occasions, according to a copy of the indictment against him that has been obtained by The Independent. The 49-page, 37-count indictment was unsealed on Friday after Mr Trump released a series of social media posts revealing that he has been indicted by a grand jury under supervision of Special Counsel Jack Smith. The indictment details the charges against Mr Trump and Walter Nauta, a former US Navy noncommissioned officer who left government service to work for Mr Trump after his term ended in January 2021. It also lays out the two instances on which Mr Trump showed classified documents to unauthorised persons at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club. The first, in July 2021, was during an interview with a writer and a publisher who were working on a book by his ex-chief of staff, Mark Meadows. According to the indictment, Mr Trump showed the writer, the book publisher, and two staff members who lacked security clearances a “plan of attack” put together by General Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who had recently been reported as criticising Mr Trump by the New Yorker. The second instance involved a classified map of an unnamed country, and staff working for Mr Trump’s political action committee. The indictment states that Mr Trump acknowledged that he lacked the authorization to show the documents at issue to the people who were present for both incidents. According to the indictment, the 37 charges against Mr Trump and Mr Nauta include willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document or record, concealing a document in a federal investigation, scheme to conceal, and false statements and representations. More follows... Read More Rep. Santos says he's protecting family members by seeking to keep bond cosigners secret DoJ unseals Trump classified papers indictment as aide also faces charges - live Trump ‘body man’ Walt Nauta has been indicted alongside ex-president

A Donald Trump ‘body man’ has reportedly been indicted in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the former president’s mishandling of classified documents. Walt Nauta, a longtime Trump aide, is the second person to be indicted in the investigation, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Mr Trump immediately confirmed the development in a Truth Social post. “I have just learned that the ‘Thugs from the Department of Injustice will be Indicting a wonderful man, Walt Nauta, a member of the U.S. Navy, who served proudly with me in the White House, retired as Senior Chief, and then transitioned into private life as a personal aide,” he ranted. Mr Trump added that federal investigators were “trying to destroy his life”. “He is strong, brave, and a Great Patriot. The FBI and DOJ are CORRUPT!” Details of the indictment were not immediately known. Mr Nauta, a former White House aide who later joined Mr Trump’s staff at Mar-a-Lago, was reportedly with the former president when news of the indictment broke on Thursday, according to CNN. Mr Trump was indicted on seven separate federal counts understood to include conspiracy to obstruct justice, making false statements, and unlawful retention of national defence information on Thursday night. Breaking more to come Read More Trump indictment — live: Trump’s brazen classified document admission revealed amid MAGA meltdown over charges Trump-appointed judge will initially preside over ex-president’s federal indictment Trump faces unprecedented legal peril, but will it hurt his standing with Republican voters?

The federal judge who will initially preside over Donald Trump’s criminal indictment in the classified documents case was appointed by the former president and delivered him a series of controversial and favourable rulings during the investigation. US District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed to the bench in 2020 during Mr Trump’s final year in office, is scheduled to preside his federal court case in Miami when he faces seven counts in an indictment involving his alleged mishandling of sensitive records removed from the White House and kept at his Mar-a-Lago property. ABC News first reported the development. Last year, Judge Cannon appointed a “special master” to review materials seized by federal law enforcement and restricted the FBI from using those documents as part of the investigation until she completed a review, effectively freezing the US Department of Justice probe. That order was ultimately thrown out entirely by a federal appeals court. The three-judge panel sharply criticised Judge Cannon’s order, writing that it is “extraordinary for a warrant to be executed at the home of a former president – but not in a way that affects our legal analysis or otherwise gives the judiciary license to interfere in an ongoing investigation.” “The law is clear,” the panel wrote. “We cannot write a rule that allows any subject of a search warrant to block government investigations after the execution of the warrant. Nor can we write a rule that allows only former presidents to do so.” Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, who signed a warrant for federal authorities to search Mar-a-Lago in August 2021, will preside over Mr Trump’s first court appearance in Miami on 13 June. With a relatively brief career before her federal appointment, Judge Cannon, among a crowd of Federal Society acolytes that have reshaped the federal judiciary, was confirmed by the US Senate by a vote of 56-21. She previously served as an assistant US attorney for the Justice Department in the Southern District of Florida. If she does not recuse herself from the case and she remains a trial judge, she could play a potentially critical role in the case’s development, including whether to set a trial before or after presidential primary elections and the general election in 2024. She also could determine whether to admit certain evidence, decide on motions or dismiss arguments entirely. She also would preside over sentencing, if there is a conviction. Her decisions also would be subject to the review of a federal appellate court. Read More Trump indictment — live: Trump’s brazen classified document admission revealed amid MAGA meltdown over charges Obstruction, witness tampering, conspiracy: The federal charges against Donald Trump How Trump’s second indictment unfolded: A timeline of the investigation into Mar-a-Lago documents

Donald Trump immediately started to fundraise off his fresh indictment on seven counts in the federal probe into his handling of classified information. Mr Trump is set to appear in court on Tuesday at a federal courthouse in Miami. If convicted, he could face a sentence of more than a century in prison. “This is nothing but a disgusting act of Election Interference by the ruling party to ELIMINATE its opposition and amass total control over our country,” Mr Trump wrote in a message to supporters. “The Deep State thought they had destroyed our campaign when a Soros-backed prosecutor indicted and even ARRESTED me earlier this year,” Mr Trump added in reference to his arraignment in the New York hush-money case involving adult actor Stormy Daniels. “But then, we SHOCKED them as our campaign grew even stronger... We broke fundraising records. 3 independent polls showed us beating Joe Biden by 7 POINTS. In fact, polls show I’m the ONLY Republican who can beat Crooked Joe,” he added. “So, after a state prosecutor failed to break us, the Deep State sharpened their attacks and unleashed a FEDERAL prosecutor to TRY and take us down.” “But let me be as clear as possible: No matter how viciously they attack me, I will NEVER, EVER SURRENDER our country to the radical Left and I will NEVER end this presidential campaign that puts YOU first,” he said. The 45th president has now been indicted for the second time in less than three months. The new charges stem from his alleged illegal retention of national security information. It was Mr Trump himself who initially shared the news that he had been indicted again. He did so in several posts on his social media platform Truth Social the day after it was reported that federal prosecutors had planned to ask a grand jury to indict Mr Trump. “The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been Indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax,” Mr Trump wrote. “I never thought it possible that such a thing could happen to a former President of the United States, who received far more votes than any sitting President in the History of our Country, and is currently leading, by far, all Candidates, both Democrat and Republican, in Polls of the 2024 Presidential Election,” he claimed, calling himself “an innocent man”. “This is indeed a DARK DAY for the United States of America. We are a Country in serious and rapid Decline, but together we will Make America Great Again!” he wrote. The seven-count indictment reportedly includes one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, one count of making false statements, and at least one count of unlawful retention of national defence information. Trump attorney James Trusty appeared on CNN on Thursday saying that one count in the indictment concerns a violation of Section 1512 of the US criminal code, which refers to witness tampering. The charges against Mr Trump come a few days after his legal team met with Justice Department officials as they failed to convince the authorities not to indict their client. The investigation began last year when the National Archives and Records Administration found more than 100 documents marked classified while going through 15 boxes taken from Mar-a-Lago, Mr Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida residence.

Donald Trump made the stunning admission that he held onto “secret” military information that he hadn’t declassified. “As president, I could have declassified, but now I can’t,” Mr Trump said during the meeting in 2021 after he left office, according to a transcript obtained by CNN. In the meeting, Mr Trump spoke about a classified Defence Department document regarding a supposed attack on Iran. The recording was obtained by prosecutors, in which Mr Trump states that he didn’t declassify the document he’s speaking about. On Thursday, Mr Trump was indicted on seven counts in the probe led by special counsel Jack Smith into the ex-president’s handling of classified documents. The indictment hasn’t been made fully public, meaning it’s not clear if any of those charges relate to the recording from 2021. But the recording does show that Mr Trump was aware that the documents he had brought with him from the White House after leaving office on 20 January that year were still classified. In public, Mr Trump has argued that all of the files he took to Florida had been declassified and he has claimed that the investigation is a witch hunt and an attempt to hinder his 2024 campaign to return to the White House. It was reported last week that prosecutors had procured the audio recording, which was made in 2021 at Mr Trump’s Bedminster, New Jersey resort with two individuals working on the autobiography of Mr Trump’s final White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in addition to aides to the former president, such as Marco Martin, a communications staffer. The transcript implies that Mr Trump is showing the document he’s speaking about during the conversation. CNN reported that several sources have said that the sound from the recording includes the rustling of papers, indicating that Mr Trump may have been moving the document around. But’s it’s not clear if it was the document regarding Iran. “Secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this,” Mr Trump said. “This was done by the military and given to me.” At the time, Mr Trump was complaining about the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley. The meeting took place not long after a story published by The New Yorker outlined how Gen Milley told the Joint Chiefs during the last days of Mr Trump’s time in office to make sure that the then-president not give any illegal orders and that Gen Milley should be made aware if there were any concerns. “Well, with Milley – uh, let me see that, I’ll show you an example. He said that I wanted to attack Iran. Isn’t that amazing? I have a big pile of papers, this thing just came up. Look. This was him,” Mr Trump said, the transcript shows. “They presented me this – this is off the record, but – they presented me this. This was him. This was the Defense Department and him. We looked at some. This was him. This wasn’t done by me, this was him.” “All sorts of stuff – pages long, look. Wait a minute, let’s see here. I just found, isn’t that amazing? This totally wins my case, you know. Except it is like, highly confidential. Secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this,” Mr Trump added. “Secret” and “confidential” are both degrees of classified information. Federal prosecutors have probed Mr Trump’s handling of classified information and his obstruction of the investigation. Mr Trump’s attorney said the 45th president was summoned by the Department of Justice to appear in court on Tuesday in Miami. Mr Smith, the Special Counsel, is also investigating Mr Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election. Mr Smith was appointed in November to lead the Department of Justice’s documents and election probes by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Donald Trump was indicted on seven charges relating to the storage of classified national defence documents dating from his presidency at his Mar-a-Lago mansion in Palm Beach, Florida. The 45th president of the United States will now appear in federal court in Miami on Tuesday, his lawyer has since confirmed. Should he ultimately be convicted, he could face a maximum combined sentence of 100 years in prison. Following the latest dramatic development to place his bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination in jeopardy, Mr Trump insisted on Truth Social: “I am an innocent man”. “The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been Indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax,” he seethed in a separate post. The Department of Justice has been investigating the potential violation of the Espionage Act for some time but has so far not made any comment on the indictment. Mr Trump’s rivals for the nomination have rallied behind him by criticising the “weaponisation of federal law enforcement”. One of those is Florida governor Ron DeSantis, whose campaign has meanwhile been accused of sharing fake AI images of Mr Trump embracing Dr Anthony Fauci, in the hope of discrediting him. Read More What is an indictment? Here’s what Donald Trump is facing Will Donald Trump be arrested and jailed after classified documents indictment? Trump indicted in classified documents case in a historic first for a former president Trump indicted: What to know about the documents case and what's next

What do the transgender whistleblower Chelsea Manning, the 1950s Soviet spy Julius Rosenberg and former president Donald Trump all have in common? The answer, following the indictment arising from the discovery of classified documents at Mr Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, is that all four have been investigated under suspicion of violating the Espionage Act of 1917. When the FBI raided Mr Trump’s property last August, they were looking for items that might violate the Act, which regulates the handling of confidential documents relating to national security. Most often used against spies, whistleblowers and government employees who leak documents to journalists, the Espionage Act carries a maximum sentence of ten years in prison. So what exactly is Mr Trump being investigated for? A contentious law with roots in First World War paranoia The Espionage Act is a controversial and often contested law that dates from America’s entry into the First World War against Germany in 1917. Even before joining the conflict, President Woodrow Wilson had urged Congress to crack down on immigrant groups and radical political movements that he claimed had “poured the poison of disloyalty into the very arteries of our national life”. At the time, German-Americans were a large and influential ethnic group, with those born in Germany comprising 2.7 per cent of the US population and 18.5 per cent of the foreign-born population, according to the census of 1910. Over 27 per cent of the nation’s “foreign white stock” spoke German as their mother tongue. There were German-language schools, churches, and newspapers throughout the country, which faced backlash from English-speaking groups. Passed just two months after Wilson joined the war and bolstered one year later in 1918, the Espionage Act criminalised many forms of dissent against the war, leading to jail sentences against speech-makers, leafleteers, film-makers and newspaper editors. The act’s more radical provisions were dismantled after the war, but other parts remain in force – including those listed in Section 793 of the US Code of Laws, which bans citizens from leaking or mishandling information relating to “national defence”. Since then, the Act has been used to prosecute the Soviet spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, National Security Agency leakers Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning and various other people who leaked US government secrets to journalists, the public or other nation states. What does the Espionage Act ban? US Code Section 793 forbids various forms of obtaining, leaking or failing to properly look after “information respecting the national defence”. For example, it forbids anyone to acquire any information about US national security facilities if they intend or have reason to believe that the information might be used “to the injury of the United States or the advantage of any foreign nation”. The Act also bans people lawfully entrusted with defence information that could harm the US from giving it to any unauthorised person, or from “wilfully retaining” it and failing to deliver it “to the officer entitled to receive it”. Another provision, wider in scope, makes it a crime for anyone trusted with such information (such as presidents) to let it be “removed from its proper place of custody”, lost, stolen, or otherwise waylaid “through gross negligence”. The same provision requires officials who become aware of such an incident to “make prompt report to his superior officer”, although it is unclear who Mr Trump’s “superior officer” would be in this case. According to the search warrant issued to agents last summer, the FBI seized various boxes and folders described as including “miscellaneous secret documents” and “miscellaneous top secret documents”. What could happen to Donald Trump now? Mr Trump has claimed he is being wrongly persecuted since the investigation began, just as he did throughout his presidency when his election campaign’s possible ties to Russia were closely examined. “This raid of President Trump’s home was not just unprecedented, but unnecessary – and now they are leaking lies and innuendos to try to explain away the weaponisation of government against their dominant political opponent,” a spokesman said in response to August’s raid. In response to his indictment on Thursday (8 June), Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform: “The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been Indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax. “I have been summoned to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday, at 3 PM. I never thought it possible that such a thing could happen to a former President of the United States, who received far more votes than any sitting President in the History of our Country, and is currently leading, by far, all Candidates, both Democrat and Republican, in Polls of the 2024 Presidential Election. I AM AN INNOCENT MAN!” If he is ultimately prosecuted and convicted, Mr Trump could be fined or imprisoned for up to 10 years, as well as forfeiting any property bought with proceeds of the crime. A conviction could potentially prevent him from holding political office again, not only because of the reputational damage but because the Fourteenth Amendment to the US constitution bans candidates who “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against [the US], or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof”. When the Socialist German-American journalist and former congressman Victor Berger was elected to a second term in 1918, Congress refused to seat him because he had been sentenced to 20 years in jail under the Espionage Act. However, with Mr Trump’s Republican allies rallying to his defence – and promising to investigate the way the FBI have treated him – who knows where this saga could end? Read More Trump indictment – latest: Trump faces 100-year jail sentence as he declares ‘I am an innocent man’ Trump unleashes on ‘woke military’ and says America is ‘going to hell’ in bizarre Truth Social rant Read Trump’s furious reaction to indictment: ‘This is war’ Trump has been indicted again: These are the investigations he faces Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term? Four big lies Trump told during his 2024 presidential announcement

Former president Donald Trump’s attorney Alina Habba said on Fox News that she is “ashamed” and “embarrassed” to be a lawyer after the former president was indicted. Ms Habba spoke on Jesse Watters’ show amid news that a federal grand jury indicted Mr Trump on charges related to his allegedly unlawful retention of national defence information. Mr Trump’s attorney said the indictment was a distraction from supposed impropriety on behalf of President Joe Biden, pointing to the fact that House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer was planning to hold FBI Director Christoper Wray, whom Mr Trump nominated to lead the bureau in 2017, in contempt of Congress for supposedly withholding documents. House Republicans have so far come up short in their accusations against Mr Biden. Mr Comer retracted the contempt vote after the FBI agreed to share documents, The New York Timesreported. House Republicans have so far come up short in their accusations against Mr Biden. “Every single time there is a coordinated dance that is becoming obvious to the American people because they are smart,” Ms Habba said. The Trump attorney added that the indictments of the twice-impeached former president were the equivalent of a “shiny ball” meant to distract the American public. “I'm embarrassed to be a lawyer at this moment,” she said. “Honestly, I am ashamed. I'm ashamed to be a lawyer. I'm ashamed that this is the state of our country.” Ms Habba claimed the indictment showed the United States had a two-tiered system of justice. “And it is so obvious that there's this dual system of justice,” she said. “This is selective prosecution, selective persecution. It is absolute persecution. It is Russia third world stuff, and it should not be happening.” Mr Trump first broadcast the indictment on his Truth Social networking platform on Thursday, one day after The Independent had reported that federal prosecutors planned to ask a grand jury to indict Mr Trump. “I never thought it possible that such a thing could happen to a former President of the United States, who received far more votes than any sitting President in the History of our Country, and is currently leading, by far, all Candidates, both Democrat and Republican, in Polls of the 2024 Presidential Election,” Mr Trump said, denying his guilt and proclaiming he is an “innocent man.” Mr Trump said he has been summoned to appear at a federal courthouse in Miami on Tuesday by 3 pm ET. Read More Trump indictment – latest: Trump faces 100-year jail sentence as he declares ‘I am an innocent man’ Trump unleashes on ‘woke military’ and says America is ‘going to hell’ in bizarre Truth Social rant Can Donald Trump run for president after being indicted? Read Trump’s furious reaction to indictment: ‘This is war’ Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term? Four big lies Trump told during his 2024 presidential announcement

Former president Donald Trump has been indicted on seven charges related to his alleged unlawful retention of national defence information at his Palm Beach, Florida home. He is set to appear in federal court in Miami at 3pm ET on Tuesday. Writing on his Truth Social platform, the ex-president wrote: “The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been Indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax”. The Department of Justice has been investigating Mr Trump for violating the Espionage Act and for obstruction of justice over the discovery of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, the latest setback to hit his 2024 presidential campaign. The DoJ has not made any comment on Mr Trump’s claims but reports are that the former president is facing seven charges in the case. The dramatic development comes as Mark Meadows, Mr Trump’s former White House chief of staff, has reportedly agreed to plead guilty to several federal charges. Meanwhile, Republicans, including Mr Trump’s rivals from the party rallied behind the former president while criticising the “weaponisation of federal law enforcement”. Read More What is an indictment? Here’s what Donald Trump is facing Will Donald Trump be arrested and jailed after classified documents indictment? Trump indicted in classified documents case in a historic first for a former president Trump indicted: What to know about the documents case and what's next

Elon Musk was derided on Twitter after he said there is “far higher” political interest in pursuing Donald Trump than other politicians after the former president was indicted for the second time. The Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter tech tycoon on Thursday called Mr Trump’s indictment “differential enforcement”, suggesting he was unfairly targeted by law enforcement based on political biases. “There does seem to be far higher interest in pursuing Trump compared to other people in politics,” Mr Musk said, reacting to a tweet by a pro-Trump user. “Very important that the justice system rebut what appears to be differential enforcement or they will lose public trust.” Mr Musk, who has declared his support to the Republican party, has courted several prominent right-wing figures in politics and media. Mr Musk also recently oversaw the launch of Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s official 2024 campaign announcement to seek the Republican presidential nomination. Following his takeover of Twitter last year, he had also reinstated suspended accounts of several controversial figures, including Mr Trump and other Republicans. Several users on Mr Musk’s platform commented sarcastically on his support for the twice impeached former president. “Could it be that they have evidence Trump committed crimes? It’s not a real endearing defense to cry out loud ‘what about’ my political adversaries?” a user Marc said. “Isn’t the rebuttal commonly known as a trial?” asked another user sarcastically. “Differential Treatment? Like when poor people get higher/worse sentences because they can’t afford representation?” another user asked. Twitter adviser and close associate of Mr Musk, David Sacks, also weighed in over Mr Trump’s indictment. He referred to allegations by officials that Joe Biden kept government documents in the garage of his Delaware home. “Trump has been indicted for keeping documents in his basement. Makes sense. Everyone knows you’re supposed to keep them in your Corvette,” Mr Shacks said. Mr Trump was indicted on charges of retaining classified government documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence and obstruction of justice, according to a lawyer for the former US president. He is facing seven criminal counts in the federal case, including one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, one count of making false statements and at least one count of unlawful retention of national defence information. The case by the Justice Department has come as another legal setback for Mr Trump, who seeks a return to the White House in 2024. This is the second indictment against Mr Trump after he faced charges over a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Mr Trump has claimed innocence in both cases. Read More Trump indictment - live: Trump says he’s ‘an innocent man’ as he faces seven charges in documents case Trump indicted in classified documents case in a historic first for a former president Obstruction, false statements and unlawfully retaining documents: The charges against Donald Trump Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term? Four big lies Trump told during his 2024 presidential announcement

Donald Trump has been indicted on charges of mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate, a remarkable development that makes him the first former president in U.S. history to face criminal charges by the federal government that he once oversaw. The Justice Department was expected to make public a seven-count indictment ahead of a historic court appearance next week in the midst of a 2024 presidential campaign punctuated by criminal prosecutions in multiple states. The indictment carries unmistakably grave legal consequences, including the possibility of prison if Trump's convicted. But it also has enormous political implications, potentially upending a Republican presidential primary that Trump had been dominating and testing anew the willingness of GOP voters and party leaders to stick with a now twice-indicted candidate who could face still more charges. And it sets the stage for a sensational trial centered on claims that a man once entrusted to safeguard the nation's most closely guarded secrets willfully, and illegally, hoarded sensitive national security information. The Justice Department did not immediately confirm the indictment publicly. But two people familiar with the situation who were not authorized to discuss it publicly said that the indictment included seven criminal counts. One of those people said Trump's lawyers were contacted by prosecutors shortly before he announced Thursday on his Truth Social platform that he had been indicted. Within minutes of his announcement, Trump, who said he was due in court Tuesday afternoon in Miami, began fundraising off it for his presidential campaign. He declared his innocence in a video and repeated his familiar refrain that the investigation is a “witch hunt.” The case adds to deepening legal jeopardy for Trump, who has already been indicted in New York and faces additional investigations in Washington and Atlanta that also could lead to criminal charges. But among the various investigations he faces, legal experts — as well as Trump's own aides — had long seen the Mar-a-Lago probe as the most perilous threat and the one most ripe for prosecution. Campaign aides had been bracing for the fallout since Trump’s attorneys were notified that he was the target of the investigation, assuming it was not a matter of if charges would be brought, but when. Appearing Thursday night on CNN, Trump attorney James Trusty said the indictment includes charges of willful retention of national defense information — a crime under the Espionage Act, which polices the handling of government secrets — obstruction, false statements and conspiracy. The inquiry took a major step forward last November when Attorney General Merrick Garland, a soft-spoken former federal judge who has long stated that no one person should be regarded as above the law, appointed Jack Smith, a war crimes prosecutor with an aggressive, hard-charging reputation to lead both the documents probe as well as a separate investigation into efforts to subvert the 2020 election. The case is a milestone for a Justice Department that had investigated Trump for years — as president and private citizen — but had never before charged him with a crime. The most notable investigation was an earlier special counsel probe into ties between his 2016 campaign and Russia, but prosecutors in that probe cited Justice Department policy against indicting a sitting president. Once he left office, though, he lost that protection. The indictment arises from a monthslong investigation into whether Trump broke the law by holding onto hundreds of documents marked classified at his Palm Beach property, Mar-a-Lago, and whether Trump took steps to obstruct the government’s efforts to recover the records. Prosecutors have said that Trump took roughly 300 classified documents to Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House, including some 100 that were seized by the FBI last August in a search of the home that underscored the gravity of the Justice Department’s investigation. Trump has repeatedly insisted that he was entitled to keep the classified documents when he left the White House, and has also claimed without evidence that he had declassified them. Court records unsealed last year showed federal investigators believed they had probable cause that multiple crimes had been committed, including the retention of national defense information, destruction of government records and obstruction. Since then, the Justice Department has amassed additional evidence and secured grand jury testimony from people close to Trump, including his own lawyers. The statutes governing the handling of classified records and obstruction are felonies that could carry years in prison in the event of a conviction. Even so, it remains unclear how much it will damage Trump's standing given that his first indictment generated millions of dollars in contributions from angry supporters and didn’t weaken him in the polls. The former president has long sought to use his legal troubles to his political advantage, complaining on social media and at public events that the cases are being driven by Democratic prosecutors out to hurt his 2024 election campaign. He is likely to rely on that playbook again, reviving his longstanding claims that the Justice Department — which, during his presidency, investigated whether his 2016 campaign had colluded with Russia — is somehow weaponized against him. Trump’s legal troubles extend beyond the New York indictment and classified documents case. Smith is separately investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. And the district attorney in Georgia’s Fulton County is investigating Trump over alleged efforts to subvert the 2020 election in that state. Signs had mounted for weeks that an indictment was near, including a Monday meeting between Trump’s lawyers and Justice Department officials. His lawyers had also recently been notified that he was the target of the investigation, the clearest sign yet that an indictment was looming. Though the bulk of the investigative work had been handled in Washington, with a grand jury meeting there for months, it recently emerged that prosecutors were presenting evidence before a separate panel in Florida, where many of the alleged acts of obstruction scrutinized by prosecutors took place. The Justice Department has said Trump repeatedly resisted efforts by the National Archives and Records Administration to get the documents back. After months of back-and-forth, Trump representatives returned 15 boxes of records in January 2022, including about 184 documents that officials said had classified markings on them. FBI and Justice Department investigators issued a subpoena in May 2022 for classified documents that remained in Trump’s possession. But after a Trump lawyer provided three dozen records and asserted that a diligent search of the property had been done, officials came to suspect even more documents remained. The investigation had simmered for months before bursting into front-page news in remarkable fashion last August. That’s when FBI agents served a search warrant on Mar-a-Lago and removed 33 boxes containing classified records, including top-secret documents stashed in a storage room and desk drawer and commingled with personal belongings. Some records were so sensitive that investigators needed upgraded security clearances to review them, the Justice Department has said. The investigation into Trump had appeared complicated — politically, if not legally — by the discovery of documents with classified markings in the Delaware home and former Washington office of President Joe Biden, as well as in the Indiana home of former Vice President Mike Pence. The Justice Department recently informed Pence that he would not face charges, while a second special counsel continues to investigate Biden’s handling of classified documents. But compared with Trump, there are key differences in the facts and legal issues surrounding Biden’s and Pence’s handling of documents, including that representatives for both men say the documents were voluntarily turned over to investigators as soon as they were found. In contrast, investigators quickly zeroed on whether Trump, who for four years as president expressed disdain for the FBI and Justice Department, had sought to obstruct the inquiry by refusing to turn over all the requested documents. _____ Tucker reported from Washington. Colvin reported from Des Moines, Iowa. Read More Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term? Four big lies Trump told during his 2024 presidential announcement GOP opponent says Trump should drop out after ‘disrespect for the rule of law’ Trump says he’s ‘an innocent man’ as he’s indicted on seven charges in documents case Trump allies accuse Democrats of ‘election interference’ as ex-president indicted