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On Wednesday evening, US media said that US prosecutors had informed Donald Trump’s lawyer that he was the target of an investigation into his handling of classified documents after he left the presidency, indicating that he might be charged.
The notification came from Special Counsel Jack’s office SmithIt gives the clearest sign yet that prosecutors are closing in on indicting the former president, who seeks to return to the White House in 2024, said the New York Times, CNN and other new outlets.
The newspaper said, citing “two people familiar with the matter,” that it was not clear when trumpHis team has been told it is under investigation.
Special Counsel Smith, appointed by the Attorney General Merrick GarlandHe was looking through a cache of classified documents Trump had stored at his Mar-a-Lago residence after leaving the White House.
The FBI pulled about 11,000 papers after serving a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago in August, and Trump could face obstruction of justice charges after he spent months resisting efforts to recover the burial.
Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
“Nobody told me I was accused, nor should I be because I did nothing wrong,” Trump posted on the Truth Social Network on Wednesday.
Trump, who has already been indicted in a separate case, added, “I assumed for years that I was a target of the armed Justice Department and FBI.”
Investigators were scrutinizing several suspicious attempts to impede their access to the documents and footage from a security camera near the Mar-a-Lago storage room where the documents were kept.
Trump explicitly acknowledged taking and storing the documents, undercutting his lawyer’s suggestion that he took the storage inadvertently in the confusion of a chaotic departure.
Meanwhile, investigators obtained an audio recording of Trump admitting that he kept a secret Pentagon document after leaving the White House, according to US media.
On Monday, US media also reported that Trump attorneys John Rowley, James Trusty and Lindsey Halligan met with Justice Department attorneys – reporters watched them arrive at the Justice Department building in Washington, but did not comment.
The Washington Post reported at the time that Trump’s lawyers had come to present their case that their client should not face any charges.
The former president has already been charged with dozens of financial crimes as part of an alleged money scheme to silence a porn star who claims she had sex with him, and is set to go on trial next March, in the middle of primary season.
Trump faces a growing list of Republican primary opponents, including his former Vice President, Mike pennywho avoided taking an absolute stance when asked about the investigation during an interview at a CNN town hall Wednesday night.
“Let me be clear that no one is above the law,” Pence said.
“I just hope there is a way to move forward without the dramatic, dangerous and divisive step of impeaching a former president of the United States,” he added.
2024 candidate Asa Hutchinson, the former Arkansas governor, took a stronger stance, urging Trump to drop out of the presidential race.
“Donald Trump is the target of an ongoing criminal investigation and should step aside and put the interest of the country above his candidacy,” he wrote on Twitter on Wednesday evening.
In addition to the money and hush-document investigations, Trump is also under investigation over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the southern state of Georgia and his involvement in the January 2021 storming of the US Capitol by his supporters.
Other politicians with government documents have been found in their private homes in recent months.
In January, Garland hired a separate special counsel to examine whether President Joe Biden had broken any law after some classified documents were discovered in his former office and in the garage of his home in Wilmington, Delaware.
Pence was recently cleared of any wrongdoing related to the substances he discovered at his home in Indiana.
The notification came from Special Counsel Jack’s office SmithIt gives the clearest sign yet that prosecutors are closing in on indicting the former president, who seeks to return to the White House in 2024, said the New York Times, CNN and other new outlets.
The newspaper said, citing “two people familiar with the matter,” that it was not clear when trumpHis team has been told it is under investigation.
Special Counsel Smith, appointed by the Attorney General Merrick GarlandHe was looking through a cache of classified documents Trump had stored at his Mar-a-Lago residence after leaving the White House.
The FBI pulled about 11,000 papers after serving a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago in August, and Trump could face obstruction of justice charges after he spent months resisting efforts to recover the burial.
Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
“Nobody told me I was accused, nor should I be because I did nothing wrong,” Trump posted on the Truth Social Network on Wednesday.
Trump, who has already been indicted in a separate case, added, “I assumed for years that I was a target of the armed Justice Department and FBI.”
Investigators were scrutinizing several suspicious attempts to impede their access to the documents and footage from a security camera near the Mar-a-Lago storage room where the documents were kept.
Trump explicitly acknowledged taking and storing the documents, undercutting his lawyer’s suggestion that he took the storage inadvertently in the confusion of a chaotic departure.
Meanwhile, investigators obtained an audio recording of Trump admitting that he kept a secret Pentagon document after leaving the White House, according to US media.
On Monday, US media also reported that Trump attorneys John Rowley, James Trusty and Lindsey Halligan met with Justice Department attorneys – reporters watched them arrive at the Justice Department building in Washington, but did not comment.
The Washington Post reported at the time that Trump’s lawyers had come to present their case that their client should not face any charges.
The former president has already been charged with dozens of financial crimes as part of an alleged money scheme to silence a porn star who claims she had sex with him, and is set to go on trial next March, in the middle of primary season.
Trump faces a growing list of Republican primary opponents, including his former Vice President, Mike pennywho avoided taking an absolute stance when asked about the investigation during an interview at a CNN town hall Wednesday night.
“Let me be clear that no one is above the law,” Pence said.
“I just hope there is a way to move forward without the dramatic, dangerous and divisive step of impeaching a former president of the United States,” he added.
2024 candidate Asa Hutchinson, the former Arkansas governor, took a stronger stance, urging Trump to drop out of the presidential race.
“Donald Trump is the target of an ongoing criminal investigation and should step aside and put the interest of the country above his candidacy,” he wrote on Twitter on Wednesday evening.
In addition to the money and hush-document investigations, Trump is also under investigation over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the southern state of Georgia and his involvement in the January 2021 storming of the US Capitol by his supporters.
Other politicians with government documents have been found in their private homes in recent months.
In January, Garland hired a separate special counsel to examine whether President Joe Biden had broken any law after some classified documents were discovered in his former office and in the garage of his home in Wilmington, Delaware.
Pence was recently cleared of any wrongdoing related to the substances he discovered at his home in Indiana.
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