Former President Donald Trump has been indicted again, this time on seven counts in a special counsel’s probe of his handling of classified documents.
These charges make Trump the first former president to face federal charges. Trump’s previous indictment over his role in making hush money payments to pornographic actress Stormy Daniels was over state charges in March.
This time, the special counsel is investigating the former president’s handling of classified documents at his club in Mar-a-Lago, Florida after he left office. The indictment, unsealed Friday afternoon, listed 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information; one count of withholding a document or record; one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice; one count of corruptly concealing a document or record; one count of concealing a document in a federal investigation; one count of scheme to conceal; one count of false statements and representations; and two counts of false statements and representations.
The former president will have to find new attorneys to defend him from the litany of charges. Shortly after noon Friday, attorneys Jim Trusty and John Rowley issued a joint statement announcing their resignation.
"This morning we tendered our resignations as counsel to President Trump, and we will no longer represent him on either the indicted case or the January 6 investigation," they wrote.
Earlier in the day, Trump took to his signature social media platform Truth Social to slam the Biden administration for the indictment.
“The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been Indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax,” Trump wrote.
According to his post, Trump has been summoned to appear at a federal courthouse in Miami on Tuesday afternoon.
Underlying everything is the fact that Trump remains the frontrunner in polls for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. His campaign prompted Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint special counsel Jack Smith, thus removing the investigation from the purview of Biden’s Justice Department.
Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com
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