Donald Trump’s lawyers have been officially informed by federal prosecutors that the former president is being investigated over his handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort and obstruction of justice after he left office.
Prosecutors from special counsel Jack Smith’s office notified Trump’s team of the fact, which is the clearest sign to date he is on course to be indicted, with charges expected to be filed soon.
It is not clear when Trump’s team were told that he was a target of the inquiry, but it would seem that the investigation is nearing a conclusion and moving ever nearer to bringing an indictment.
The former president claims he had not been personally informed by the justice department that he was a target, but was not quite so open when asked whether his legal team had been told.
He said on social media: “No one has told me I’m being indicted. And I shouldn’t be because I’ve done nothing wrong.”
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Trump was found with 300 classified documents at his private club and residence in Florida, including some found in a search there by FBI agents. Last month, prosecutors started issuing subpoenas to Trump aides that made them testify before a new grand jury in Florida.
On Wednesday (June 7), former Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich testified before the grand jury and was asked about a statement that Trump drafted in early 2022 that said he had given “everything” back after he returned 15 boxes of materials to the National Archives.
The statement was never issued, Budowich is understood to have confirmed. What charges will come remains unclear at this stage, although the impaneling of a grand jury suggests that prosecutors believe a crime was committed.
Budowich went on Twitter afterwards, to claim that the current government were out “to get” Trump, writing: “Today, in what can only be described as a bogus and deeply troubling effort to use the power of government to ‘get’ Trump, I fulfilled a legal obligation to testify in front a federal grand jury and I answered every question honestly.
“America has become a sick and broken nation—a decline led by Joe Biden and power-hungry Democrats. I will not be intimidated by this weaponisation of government.
“For me, the need to unite our nation and make America great again has never been more clear than it is today.
“That starts with re-electing President Donald J. Trump, a purpose I will not be deterred from pursuing.”
Most of the documents investigation has been conducted by a grand jury sitting in Washington, which has heard from a series of witnesses over the past several months, including some of Trump’s White House advisers, low-level workers at Mar-a-Lago and more than 20 members of his Secret Service security detail.
Only a handful of witnesses — including some Mar-a-Lago employees — have appeared so far before the Miami grand jury, which started hearing evidence last month.
Trump is already under indictment in New York in a hush-money case, and is under scrutiny by a prosecutor in Georgia over his efforts to overturn his election loss in that state in 2020.
