Former President Donald Trump on Thursday posted on Truth Social that he’s been indicted, “seemingly over the Boxes Hoax,” and that he’s been summoned to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday at 3pm.
According to the NY Times, Trump faces seven charges, and is expected to surrender himself to authorities in Miami on Tuesday.
Donald Trump via Truth Social:
“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.
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!
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!”
?#BREAKING: Former president Donald Trump has just released a video responding to being indicted pic.twitter.com/XaU0DNka7F
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) June 9, 2023
Meanwhile, the NY Times writes;
Here’s what to know:
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The indictment reaches back to the end of Mr. Trump’s term in January 2021, when the documents — many of which were said to be in the White House residence — were packed in boxes along with clothes, gifts, photos and other material, and shipped by the General Services Administration to Mar–a-Lago.
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After lengthy efforts by the National Archives throughout much of 2021 to get Mr. Trump to turn over the material he had taken with him — considered government property under the Presidential Records Act — Mr. Trump turned over 15 boxes of material in January 2022. The boxes turned out to contain highly sensitive material with classified markings, prompting a Justice Department investigation.
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Last August, federal agents descended on Mar-a-Lago to conduct an extraordinary search that turned up material that Mr. Trump had failed to turn over in response to a subpoena months earlier demanding the return of any classified documents still in his possession.
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The Justice Department has repeatedly questioned Mr. Trump’s level of cooperation with the efforts to recover the documents, saying that it had recovered more than 100 documents containing classified markings even after an attestation by one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers that a “diligent search” by his legal team had not turned up any further materials.
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Mr. Trump still faces other ongoing criminal investigations. They include Mr. Smith’s inquiry into Mr. Trump’s efforts to hold onto power following his election loss — and how they led to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol — and an investigation by a prosecutor in Georgia into his attempts to reverse his 2020 election loss in that vital swing state. Mr. Trump is scheduled to go on trial in the Manhattan criminal case next March.
According to sources familiar with the case, the DOJ declined to delay the planned indictment of Trump to investigate allegations that a senior prosecutor on the case tried to influence a key witness by discussing a federal judgeship with the witness’ lawyer, Just the News reports.
Trump was indicted last month in Manhattan on allegations that he falsified business expenses to conceal hush money payments to a porn star.
After years and years of prosecutorial and investigative abuses and crimes, the Department of Justice has finally indicted Trump. In doing so, the DOJ has inserted itself into the 2024 presidential election, again disenfranchising millions of voters. It’s a sad day for the country and a sobering day for those who wish for the equal administration of justice.
And as Just the News notes, no prior sitting US president has ever been indicted in federal court. If the grand jury accepts the case, it will spark an unprecedented legal battle which will undoubtedly make its way to the Supreme Court, while casting a shadow over the 2024 election. According to some polls, Trump leads the GOP field by as many as 50 points.
Trump’s defense
According to the report, “Trump’s lawyers have prepared a robust defense based on months of legal research, anticipating Smith might pursue charges. Trump’s lawyers are prepared to argue that a president had broad powers under the Constitution to keep documents or declassify without any fanfare documents from his presidency and take them with him upon leaving office.”
They will rely heavily on a U.S. District Court case in Washington more than a decade ago involving former President Bill Clinton that concluded a president had broad and mostly unchallengeable power to determine which documents from his presidency can be kept personally and that any documents moved to Trump’s homes in Mar-a-Lago, Fla., and Bedminster, N.J., fall under that category.
An American Bar Association report in 2022 seemed to agree with Trump’s assertion that “guidelines support his contention that presidents have broad authority to formally declassify most documents that are not statutorily protected, while they are in office.” -Just the News
Prosecutors, meanwhile, plan to counter by arguing that constitutional authority doesn’t extend to documents which contain National Defense Information.