Former President Donald Trump came charging out with emails and social media posts after he said he’s being indicted over classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
“This is warfare with the law,” Trump said in a video posted to the Truth Social platform. “It’s a hoax!”
He added he has been summoned to appear in federal court in Miami on Tuesday at 3 p.m.
“This is indeed a DARK DAY,” Trump added, ending with all caps. “We are a Country in serious and rapid Decline, but together we will Make America Great Again!” He added in an earlier post: “I am an innocent man. The Biden administration is totally corrupt.”
Emails also flooded inboxes from both Trump and a Democratic PAC looking for political donations off the news that lands just as other GOP candidates are announcing runs for president. Yet, polls show Trump is leading all comers by double-digits. Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis comes in second, but is closing the gap a bit in Iowa.
Trump said he’s 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, the Associated Press reports.
Trump is calling the classified docs probe “Boxes Hoax” — and he slammed the Justice Department for gunning for him while President Biden has “boxes” of documents at the University of Deleware.
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 Trump broke the law by holding onto hundreds of documents marked classified at his Palm Beach property, Mar-a-Lago, and whether Trump took steps to obstruct the government’s efforts to recover the records.
Prosecutors have said that 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.
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 Trump’s attorneys were notified that he was the target of the investigation, assuming it was not a matter of if charges would be brought, but when.
But it remains unclear what the immediate and long-term political consequences will be for Trump. His first indictment spurred millions of dollars in contributions from angry supporters.
Trump has insisted 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 former president has long sought to use mounting legal troubles to his political advantage.
This case is a milestone for a Justice Department that had investigated Trump for years — as president and private citizen — but had never before charged him with a crime. Garland was appointed by Biden, who is seeking re-election in 2024.
