On Thursday afternoon, former President Donald Trump disclosed on his social media platform Truth Social that he has been indicted and is due to appear in a federal courthouse in Miami at 3 PM on Tuesday.
According to The New York Times, Trump has been indicted on seven separate charges. Official charges have yet to be announced, but several news sources are claiming knowledge of the charges through unnamed sources.
In his posts on Truth Social, Trump drew attention to what he referred to as the “Boxes Hoax.”
“The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax,” Trump wrote in his first post. “Joe Biden has 1850 boxes at the University of Delaware, additional boxes in Chinatown, D.C., with even more boxes at the University of Pennsylvania, and documents strewn all over his garage floor.”
"I have been summoned to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday, at 3pm. I never thought such a thing could happen to a former President of the United States..."
The Washington Examiner wrote:
Donald Trump Jr. criticized the Justice Department Thursday evening, alleging there is no “coincidence” between his father’s indictment over mishandling classified documents and an FBI informant’s claim of President Joe Biden accepting a $5 million bribe.
“On the same day that a story broke about a whistleblower alleging Joe Biden took a 5 million dollar bribe from Burisma in Ukraine, Biden’s corrupt DOJ decides to indict Trump over BS charges,” Trump Jr. tweeted, adding, “Do you really think that’s a coincidence?”
Donald Trump became the first former president in history to face federal charges after he acknowledged he was informed of a looming indictment filed in Federal District Court in Miami. The indictment follows a lengthy investigation into his handling of classified documents he took with him after leaving office and obstructing the government’s attempts to reclaim them.
Trump’s acknowledgment came just hours before FBI Director Wray granted GOP House Oversight Committee members access to a document alleging Biden’s involvement in a multi-million dollar payment from Burisma Holdings, where his son Hunter Biden sat on the board, based on 2020 testimony to the FBI from a confidential source.
The document containing the testimony, consisting of allegations relayed to a paid FBI informant, is currently being used in an active and ongoing investigation, committee chairman Rep. James Comer (R-KY) said. The information comes from a “trusted, highly credible” paid FBI informant, according to Republicans, including Comer.
The allegations raised in the FBI document have not been verified as true but came from information the confidential human source learned from a foreign national.
It does seem extremely coincidental that on the same day the previously claimed nonexistent document containing whistleblower testimony regarding the Biden's financial involvement with Burisma is provided to the House Committee, Trump is charged.
It is believed to be the first time in US history that a former President has been charged regarding classified documents knowing he has the authority to declassify.
According to the American Bar Association:
"The classification system for national security information is principally a function of the president’s authority under the U.S. Constitution as commander in chief, which gives the president broad powers to classify and declassify such information."
They also point out,
"The Constitution, executive orders and case law clearly give the president broad authority to classify and declassify documents. Similarly, prevailing law also requires federal officials to follow certain procedures in declassifying documents to establish specificity and memorialization for future handling. But the extent of a president’s legal authority to unilaterally declassify materials — without those formalities — has yet to be challenged in court."
This is going to be a long episode in the ongoing Trump vs Democrats docudrama.
