Former President Donald Trump has been indicted for a second time, this time on federal charges related to his handling of classified information while out of office, sources familiar with the matter confirm to ABC News.
The former president faces at least seven charges, sources tell ABC News, including willful withholding of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document or record, concealing a document in a federal investigation, an outline. concealment, and false statements and representations.
The maximum sentences for the respective charges, according to their statutes, range from five to 20 years, although any eventual sentence should Trump be convicted would likely be much less.
Trump is due to be arraigned in federal court in Miami on Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET, sources said.
In a statement on social media, Trump wrote Thursday that he had been informed of the indictment and insisted the case was a “hoax.”
He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
Trump wrote that he is “INNOCENT” and it was a “DARK DAY” for the US
Trump also claimed he is innocent in a video posted on Truth Social, saying: “I’m innocent. We’re going to prove that very, very solidly and hopefully very quickly. Thank you very much.”
Spokesmen for the Justice Department and special counsel Jack Smith’s office declined to comment on Trump’s statement.
The unprecedented federal indictment of a former president, who already faces a criminal case in New York City that he denies and is the current front-runner for the Republican Party’s 2024 White House nomination, further underscores what are potentially the most consequential prosecutions in US history, with both global and domestic implications.
Experts say a current U.S. government criminally prosecuting its former leader and current opposition party candidate upends long-standing norms and could test the nation’s democratic system in a way that goes a long way beyond the merits of the case itself.
Former President Donald Trump greets supporters at a Team Trump volunteer leadership training event held at the Grimes Community Complex on June 1, 2023, in Grimes, Iowa.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
The federal probe has been led by Smith, who was tapped by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November to oversee the Justice Department’s investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents as his presidency ended.
Smith is also overseeing the investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Central to Smith’s efforts in the classified documents investigation is determining whether lawyers representing the former president falsely certified in response to a grand jury subpoena that Trump had returned all classified records to the government, or whether the same Trump tried to hide records he might have illegally. retained
As ABC News previously reported, prosecutors in the special counsel’s office have presented compelling preliminary evidence that Trump knowingly and deliberately misled his own lawyers about his retention of classified material after he left office earlier this year. 2021, according to sources who described the contents of a sealed document. of a superior federal judge.
In early 2022, sources told ABC News, National Archives officials asked the Justice Department to investigate Trump’s handling of White House records after the National Archives in January recovered 15 boxes of records from the Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida that had been improperly taken. in violation of the Presidential Records Act.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2023, March 4, 2023, at National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland.
Alex Brandon/AP, FILE
The DOJ investigation reached a critical point on August 8, 2022, when FBI agents searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Federal investigators seized more than 100 classified documents during the search, according to a detailed unsealed inventory list. In Trump’s office alone, there were 43 empty folders confiscated with classified banners.
The property inventory list also showed agents gathered more than 11,000 unclassified documents or photographs, all described as US government property.
Since the August search, Trump and his legal team have found additional classified documents and received additional subpoenas for information the government believes may still be in Trump’s possession.
The former president, who pleaded not guilty in April to unrelated criminal charges of falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment made in the days before the 2016 election, has said he will stand in the 2024 presidential race despite any allegations.
In addition to the Smith probes, Trump is also under investigation in Georgia for his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in that state.
ABC News’ John Santucci and Alexander Mallin contributed to this report.
