Former president Donald Trump said Thursday that special counsel Jack Smith has informed his attorneys that he has been indicted in a classified-documents probe, making him the first former U.S. president to face federal criminal charges.
“The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been Indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax, even though Joe Biden has 1850 Boxes at the University of Delaware, additional Boxes in Chinatown, D.C., with even more Boxes at the University of Pennsylvania, and documents strewn all over his garage floor where he parks his Corvette, and which is ‘secured’ by only a garage door that is paper thin, and open much of the time,” Trump said in a statement on Truth Social on Thursday evening.
Trump said he has been summoned to appear at the federal courthouse in Miami on Tuesday at 3 p.m.
Sources told CNN and the New York Times that the indictment includes seven counts, though the reports did not offer more information about the full nature of the charges.
“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!” he added.
Trump has already been indicted by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg on 34 counts of falsifying business records. The investigation into whether he interfered in the 2020 elections in Georgia is also gaining steam. However, the federal charges against Trump may prove to be the most damaging.
The former president was found to have over 300 documents bearing classified markings at his estate in Mar-a-Lago, Fla. The FBI conducted a raid to recover a portion of the documents last year.
Charges have appeared imminent for days. Smith’s office informed Trump that he was a target of their investigation this week, the New York Times reported.
Trump’s lawyers also met with Smith and others at the DOJ on Monday to offer their side of the story and claim misconduct to stave off charges.
Two grand juries have been convened relating to this investigation — one in Washington, D.C., and one in Florida. The Washington grand jury has heard from those close to Trump as well as low-level staffers at Mar-a-Lago.
Former vice president Mike Pence and President Joe Biden have also been investigated for classified documents discovered at their private residences.
The Department of Justice declined to file charges against Pence last week. Pence voluntarily initiated a review of documents at his home in Carmel, Ind. His team found a small number of classified documents, and the FBI, invited by Pence, discovered an additional document when they searched his home. When the news about Pence broke, Trump posted on Truth Social: “I’m at least as innocent as he is.”
The probe into the documents discovered at Biden’s residence is ongoing. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed special counsel Robert Hur to lead that investigation. The documents date back to Biden’s time as a senator and vice president.
Trump has repeatedly slammed the classified-documents investigation and called attention to the probe into Biden. He has claimed he did nothing wrong because he declassified everything when he left office. However, CNN reported last week that federal prosecutors have obtained a recording of Trump acknowledging he held onto a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran. Multiple sources told CNN he understood he had taken a classified document.
Separately, Congress is seeking to address the mishandling of classified documents by the executive branch.
A group of senators unveiled a robust set of reforms last month. According to Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Mark Warner (D., Va.), the group is acting to create a formal step in which an archivist comes in to make sure classified documents are not improperly marked as personal documents in the “mad rush to get things boxed up” that occurs at the end of an administration. Warner clarified that the authority of presidents to declassify documents through proper channels is not being challenged.
“If any of these individuals did not have an intent to take something inappropriate, this process would have solved that problem,” Warner added.
Smith is also looking into Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election. Many of those close to Trump have testified or will testify in that probe, including former chief of staff Mark Meadows, former vice president Mike Pence, and ex-adviser Steve Bannon. That probe appears to be moving slower than the classified-documents investigation.