Tag: donald trump latest news

Georgia court website publishes, then takes down, list of criminal charges against Trump

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A list of criminal charges in Georgia against former President Donald Trump briefly appeared on Monday on a Fulton County website, but prosecutors said Trump had not been indicted in their long-running investigation of the 2020 presidential election.

A Fulton County grand jury began hearing from more witnesses on Monday. Shortly after 12 p.m., Reuters reported on a list of several criminal charges to be brought against Trump, including state racketeering counts, conspiracy to commit false statements and solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer.

Reuters, which later published a copy of the document, said the filing was taken down quickly. A spokesperson for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said the report of charges being filed was “inaccurate,” but declined to comment further.

It was unclear why the list was posted while grand jurors were still hearing from witnesses in the sprawling investigation into actions taken by Trump and others in their efforts to overturn his narrow loss in Georgia to Democrat Joe Biden. It was also unclear whether grand jurors were aware on Monday that the filing was posted online. They still would need to vote on charges, so the counts listed in the posting may or may not ultimately be brought against Trump.

When asked about how the filing appeared online, Fulton County courts clerk Che Alexander told The Associated Press that she had no comment. Asked whether it was a mistake by her office, she again declined to comment.

Even so, Trump and his allies, who have characterized the criminal investigations against him as politically motivated, quickly seized on the apparent error. Trump’s campaign aimed to fundraise off of it, sending out an email with the since-deleted document embedded.

“The Grand Jury testimony has not even FINISHED – but it’s clear the District Attorney has already decided how this case will end,” Trump wrote in the email, which included links to give money to his campaign. “They are trying to rob me of my right to due process. This is an absolute DISGRACE.”

Taylor Budowich, who leads the former president’s supportive super PAC, posted on the platform formerly known as Twitter that the grand jury was “just a formality for these Banana Republic proceedings.”

Legal experts said it was likely merely a clerical error listing charges prosecutors are planning to ask the grand jury to vote on. Prosecutors draft indictments and present them to the grand jury, which ultimately decides whether to hand charges down.

“I think this tells us what they are planning to present to the grand jury, and the grand jury could say no,” said Clark Cunningham, a Georgia State University law professor. Cunningham said while the error will give Trump’s legal team fodder to complain, it likely won’t ultimately impact the case.

“It will not scuttle the case. Will his lawyers make a lot of noise about it? Yes, they will. Will Mr. Trump make a lot of noise about it? Yes, he will. I’m sure there will have to be an explanation for it,” Cunningham said.

One person who said he’dbeen called to testify to the grand jury suggested on Monday that the process may be moving more quickly than anticipated. George Chidi, an independent journalist, had tweeted previously that he was asked to testify on Tuesday, but later posted he was going to court on Monday, adding: “They’re moving faster than they thought.”

Chidi wrote in The Intercept last month that he barged “into a semi-clandestine meeting of Republicans pretending to be Georgia’s official electors in December 2020.” He described being thrown out of the room just after entering, told that it was an “education meeting.”

The grand jury filing on Monday lists more than a dozen felony counts, including Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO. Willis has long been expected to levy that charge against Trump and his associates, accusing them of participating in a wide-ranging conspiracy to overturn the state’s 2020 election results.

Two counts — including solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer — lists the date of offense as Jan. 2, 2021, which was when Trump during a phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said he wanted to “find” enough votes to overturn his loss in the state. Other counts list the date of offense as Sept. 17, 2021, which is the same day Trump sent Raffensperger a message urging him to investigate “large scale voter fraud,” decertify the election and “announce the true winner” if the investigation found the fraud.

Former Democratic state Sen. Jen Jordan, who had been subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury, said as she left the Fulton County courthouse late Monday morning that she had been questioned for about 40 minutes. Former Democratic state Rep. Bee Nguyen also confirmed that she testified. News outlets reported that Gabriel Sterling, a top official in the secretary of state’s office, was seen arriving at the courthouse earlier Monday.

“No individual is above the law, and I will continue to fully cooperate with any legal proceedings seeking the truth and protecting our democracy,” Nguyen said in a statement.

Nguyen and Jordan both attended legislative hearings in December 2020 during which former New York mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and others made false claims of widespread election fraud in Georgia. Trump lawyer John Eastman also appeared during at least one of those hearings and said the election had not been held in compliance with Georgia law and that lawmakers should appoint a new slate of electors.

Sterling and his boss, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — both Republicans — forcefully pushed back against allegations of widespread problems with Georgia’s election.

Trump famously called Raffensperger on Jan. 2, 2021, and suggested the state’s top elections official could help “find” the votes Trump needed to beat Biden. It was the release of a recording of that phone call that prompted Willis to open her investigation about a month later.

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Trump indicted: What to know about the documents case and what’s next

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Donald Trump’s indictment on charges of mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate has brought renewed attention to one of the most notable cases in Justice Department history.

The federal charges represent the biggest legal jeopardy so far for Mr. Trump, coming less than three months after he was charged in New York with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

Here’s a look at the charges, the special counsel’s investigation and how Mr. Trump’s case differs from those of other politicians known to be in possession of classified documents:

What are the charges?

Mr. Trump has been charged with seven counts related to the mishandling of classified documents, according to two people familiar with the indictment but not authorized to speak publicly about it. The charges themselves are unclear and remain under seal, one person said.


Editorial: Misplaced secrets: On U.S. President Joe Biden’s legal troubles

Mr. Trump announced on June 8 night on his social media site Truth Social that Justice Department lawyers had informed his legal team that he had been indicted. He said he is due in court in Miami on June 6 afternoon.

It was not immediately clear if anyone else would be charged in the case.

How did the case come about?

Officials with the National Archives and Records Administration reached out to representatives for Mr. Trump in spring 2021 when they realised that important material from his time in office was missing from their collection.

According to the Presidential Records Act, White House documents are considered property of the U.S. government and must be preserved.

A Trump representative told the National Archives in December 2021 that Presidential records had been found at Mar-a-Lago. In January 2022, the National Archives retrieved 15 boxes of documents from Mr. Trump’s Florida home, later telling Justice Department officials that they contained “a lot” of classified material.

That May, the FBI and Justice Department issued a subpoena for remaining classified documents in Mr. Trump’s possession. Investigators who went to visit the property weeks later to collect the records were given roughly three dozen documents and a sworn statement from Mr. Trump’s lawyers attesting that the requested information had been returned.

But that assertion turned out to be false. With a search warrant, federal officials returned to Mar-a-Lago in August 2022 and seized more than 33 boxes and containers totalling 11,000 documents from a storage room and an office, including 100 classified documents.

In all, roughly 300 documents with classification markings — including some at the top-secret level — have been recovered from Mr. Trump since he left office in January 2021.

How did a special counsel get involved?

Last year, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland picked Jack Smith, a veteran war crimes prosecutor with a background in public corruption probes, to lead investigations into the presence of classified documents at Mr. Trump’s Florida estate, as well as key aspects of a separate probe involving the January 6, 2021, insurrection and efforts to undo the 2020 election.

Mr. Smith’s appointment was a recognition by Mr. Garland of the politics involved in an investigation into a former President and current White House candidate. Mr. Garland himself was selected by Democratic President Joe Biden, whom Mr. Trump is seeking to challenge for the White House in 2024.

Special counsels are appointed in cases in which the Justice Department perceives itself as having a conflict or where it’s deemed to be in the public interest to have someone outside the government come in and take responsibility for a matter.

According to the Code of Federal Regulations, a special counsel must have “a reputation for integrity and impartial decisionmaking,” as well as “an informed understanding of the criminal law and Department of Justice policies.”

What’s an indictment?

An indictment is the formal charge brought against someone after a grand jury — which is made up of members of the community — votes and enough members agree there’s sufficient evidence to charge someone with a crime.

The indictment against Mr. Trump remains sealed. But once the document is made public, it will lay out the crime or crimes that Mr. Trump is accused of committing. Sometimes indictments include a lengthy narrative with lots of details about the allegations, while others are more basic and just outline the charges a defendant is facing.

Didn’t Biden and former Vice-President Mike Pence have classified documents, too?

Yes, but the circumstances of their cases are vastly different from the situation involving Mr. Trump.

After classified documents were found at Mr. Biden’s think tank and Mr. Pence’s Indiana home, their lawyers notified authorities and quickly arranged for them to be handed over. They also authorized other searches by federal authorities to search for additional documents.

There is no indication either was aware of the existence of the records before they were found, and no evidence has so far emerged that Mr. Biden or Mr. Pence sought to conceal the discoveries. That’s important because the Justice Department historically looks for willfulness in deciding whether to bring criminal charges.

A special counsel was appointed earlier this year to probe how classified materials ended up at Mr. Biden’s Delaware home and former office. But even if the Justice Department were to find Mr. Biden’s case prosecutable on the evidence, its Office of Legal Counsel has concluded that a President is immune from prosecution during his time in office.

As for Mr. Pence, the Justice Department informed his legal team earlier this month that it would not be pursuing criminal charges against him over his handling of the documents.

Does a federal indictment prevent Trump from running for President?

No. Neither the indictment itself nor a conviction would prevent Mr. Trump from running for or winning the Presidency in 2024.

And as the New York case showed, criminal charges have historically been a boon to his fundraising. The campaign announced that it had raised over $4 million in the 24 hours after that indictment became public, far smashing its previous record after the FBI search of Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club.

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Former U.S. President Donald Trump charged in classified documents probe

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Former United States President Donald Trump has said that he has been indicted on charges of mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate, igniting a federal prosecution that is arguably the most perilous of multiple legal threats against the former president as he seeks to reclaim the White House.

The Justice Department did not immediately publicly confirm the indictment. But two people familiar with the situation who were not authorised to discuss it publicly said that the indictment included seven criminal counts. One of those people said Mr. Trump’s lawyers were contacted by prosecutors shortly before he announced on his Truth Social platform that he had been indicted.


Read Editorial | Misplaced secrets: On U.S. President Joe Biden’s legal troubles

“The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been Indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax,” Mr. Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social, as he broke what would be bombshell news of a historic moment for the United States: the first time a sitting or former commander-in-chief has ever faced federal charges.

The indictment enmeshes the Justice Department in the most politically explosive prosecution in its long history. Its first case against a former president upends a Republican presidential primary that Mr. Trump is currently dominating, and any felony charges would raise the prospect of a yearslong prison sentence.

This image contained in a court filing by the Department of Justice on Aug. 30, 2022, and partially redacted by the source, shows a photo of documents seized during the Aug. 8, 2022, FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.

‘A witch hunt,’ says Trump

Within 20 minutes of his announcement, Mr. Trump, who said he was due in court Tuesday afternoon, had begun fundraising off of it for his 2024 presidential campaign. He declared in a video, “I AM AN INNOCENT MAN!” and repeated his familiar refrain that the investigation is a “witch hunt”.

The case adds to deepening legal jeopardy for Trump, who has already been indicted in New York and faces additional investigations in Washington and Atlanta that also could lead to criminal charges. As the prosecution moves forward, it will pit Trump’s claims of sweeping executive power against Attorney General Merrick Garland’s oft-stated mantra that no person, including a former commander-in-chief, should be regarded as above the law.

The indictment arises from a monthslong investigation by special counsel Jack Smith into whether Mr. Trump broke the law by holding onto hundreds of documents marked “classified” at his Palm Beach property, Mar-a-Lago, and whether Mr. Trump took steps to obstruct the government’s efforts to recover the records.


Also read: Top secrets at Mar-a-Lago

Prosecutors have said that Mr. Trump took roughly 300 classified documents to Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House, including some 100 that were seized by the FBI last August in a search of the home that underscored the gravity of the Justice Department’s investigation.

Mr. Trump and his team have long seen the special counsel investigation as far more perilous than the New York matter — both politically and legally.

Campaign aides had been bracing for the fallout since Mr. Trump’s attorneys were notified that he was the target of the investigation, assuming it was not a matter of whether charges would be brought, but when.

But it remains unclear what the immediate and long-term political consequences will be for Mr. Trump. His first indictment spurred millions of dollars in contributions from angry supporters and didn’t damage Mr. Trump in the polls. No matter what, the indictment — and the legal fight that follows — will throw Mr. Trump back into the spotlight, sucking attention away from the other candidates who are trying to build momentum in the 2024 presidential race.

Mr. Trump has insisted that he was entitled to keep the classified documents when he left the White House, and has also claimed without evidence that he had declassified them.

The case is a milestone for a Justice Department that had investigated Mr. Trump for years — as president and private citizen — but had never before charged him with a crime. Garland was appointed by President Joe Biden, who is seeking reelection in 2024.

The former president has long sought to use the mounting legal troubles to his political advantage, complaining on social media and at public events that the cases are being driven by Democratic prosecutors out to hurt his 2024 election campaign. He is likely to rely on that playbook again, reviving his longstanding claims that the Justice Department — which, during his presidency, investigated whether his 2016 campaign had colluded with Russia — is somehow weaponised against him.

Among the various state and federal investigations that Mr. Trump faces, legal experts — including Mr. Trump’s own former attorney general — had long seen the Mar-a-Lago probe as one of the most likely to result in indictment and the one where evidence seemed to favowur the government. Court records unsealed last year showed federal investigators believed they had probable cause that multiple crimes had been committed, including the retention of national defense information, destruction of government records and obstruction of an investigation.

Since then, the Justice Department has amassed additional evidence and secured grand jury testimony from people close to Mr. Trump, including his own lawyers. The statutes governing the handling of classified records and obstruction are felonies that could carry years in prison in the event of a conviction.

Signs had mounted for weeks that an indictment was near, including a June 5 meeting between Mr. Trump’s lawyers and Justice Department officials. After that meeting, Mr. Trump said on social media that he anticipated he could be charged, even as he insisted that he had done nothing wrong.

Though the bulk of the investigative work had been handled in Washington, with a grand jury meeting there for months, it recently emerged that prosecutors were presenting evidence before a separate panel in Florida, where many of the alleged acts of obstruction scrutinized by prosecutors — including efforts to move the boxes — took place.

Trump’s legal troubles

Mr. Trump’s legal troubles extend beyond the New York indictment and classified documents case.

The special counsel has a separate probe underway focused on efforts by Mr. Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. And the district attorney in Georgia’s Fulton County is investigating Mr. Trump over alleged efforts to subvert the 2020 election in that state.

The classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, along with thousands of other unclassified government records, were taken from the White House to the Florida club after Mr. Trump left office in January 2021.

The Justice Department has said Mr. Trump and his lawyers repeatedly resisted efforts by the National Archives and Records Administration to get the documents back. After months of back-and-forth, Mr. Trump’s representatives returned 15 boxes of records in January 2022, including about 184 documents that officials said had classified markings on them.

FBI and Justice Department investigators issued a subpoena in May 2022 for classified documents that remained in Mr. Trump’s possession. But after Mr. Trump’s lawyer provided three dozen records and asserted that a diligent search of the property had been done, officials came to suspect even more documents remained. They obtained surveillance footage boxes of records being moved from a storage room at Mar-a-Lago.

The investigation had simmered for months before bursting into front-page news in remarkable fashion last August. That’s when FBI agents served a search warrant on Mar-a-Lago and removed 33 boxes containing classified records, including top-secret documents stashed in a storage room and desk drawer and commingled with personal belongings. Some records were so sensitive that investigators needed upgraded security clearances to review them, the Justice Department has said.

The investigation into Mr. Trump had appeared complicated — politically, if not legally — by the discovery of documents with classified markings in the Delaware home and former Washington office of President Joe Biden, as well as in the Indiana home of former Vice President Mike Pence. The Justice Department recently informed Pence that he would not face charges, while a second special counsel continues to investigate Biden’s handling of classified documents.

But compared with Mr. Trump, there are key differences in the facts and legal issues surrounding Biden’s and Pence’s handling of documents, including that representatives for both men say the documents were returned as soon as they were found.

In contrast, investigators quickly zeroed on whether Mr. Trump, who for four years as president expressed disdain for the FBI and Justice Department, had sought to obstruct the inquiry by refusing to turn over all the requested documents. The focus on obstruction was reminiscent of the special counsel investigation Mr. Trump faced as president, when prosecutors examined whether Mr. Trump illegally tried to thwart the Russia probe, including by firing his FBI director.

(With inputs from AFP)

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