federal indictment of Donald J. Trump (documents case)
On June 8, 2023, Donald J. Trump became the first former U.S. president to be indicted by a federal grand jury. The 37-count indictment, filed by the office of special counsel Jack Smith, relates to the alleged mishandling of classified documents that were found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. The 49-page indictment, which includes charges of obstruction of justice and making false statements to the government, was released publicly after Trump announced the indictment on social media.
On July 15, 2024, federal district court judge Aileen M. Cannon dismissed the classified documents case. In her ruling, she said that the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith was unconstitutional because he had not been named to the post by the president or confirmed by the Senate. Smith then appealed Cannon’s ruling to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. In November, after Trump’s victory in the presidential election of 2024, Smith asked the Eleventh Circuit to remove Trump from the group of codefendants in the classified documents case. Smith’s request was for a dismissal of charges “without prejudice,” meaning that Trump could face the same charges at a later date. Smith’s motion reflected a Justice Department policy prohibiting the criminal prosecution of sitting presidents.
Trump faced three other indictments in 2023: on charges of falsifying business records in New York, on charges of attempting to overturn the Georgia results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, and on federal charges of attempting to overturn the 2020 election. Trump, who pleaded not guilty to the New York charges, was convicted by a jury of 34 counts of falsifying business records, but he was given no jail time or fines; the other two cases were dismissed.
To read the full transcript of the original federal indictment related to the alleged mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, click here. In July 2023 a superseding indictment was filed, adding three more charges. To read the later federal indictment, click here.