Former President Donald Trump faces 37 federal charges related to improperly storing documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, according to an indictment unsealed Friday.
The case is the result of a monthslong investigation by special counsel Jack Smith.
"Today, an indictment was unsealed charging Donald J. Trump with felony violations of our national security laws as well as participating in a conspiracy to obstruct justice," Smith said in a rare public statement. "This indictment was voted by a grand jury of citizens in the Southern District of Florida. Now I invite everyone to read it in full to understand the scope and the gravity of the crimes charged.
"The men and women of the United States intelligence community and our armed forces dedicate their lives to protecting our nation and its people," he continued. "Our laws that protect national defense information are critical to the safety and security of the United States, and they must be enforced. Violations of those laws put our country at risk."
Smith's probe looked into whether the former president broke the law by holding onto hundreds of documents marked classified Mar-a-Lago, located in Palm Beach, Florida, and whether Trump took steps to obstruct the government’s efforts to recover the records.
Trump posted on his Truth Social platform Thursday evening that his attorneys were informed he has been indicted and is due to appear at the federal courthouse in Miami on Tuesday. Trump denied any wrongdoing, calling the case a "hoax."
“I AM AN INNOCENT MAN!” Trump bellowed in his posts.
Seemingly seeking to undercut criticism from Trump's camp that the probe is politically motivated, Smith firmly said: "We have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone. Applying those laws, collecting facts, that's what determines the outcome of an investigation. Nothing more, nothing less.
"It's very important for me to note that the defendants in this case must be presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law," Smith said as he concluded his remarks. "To that end, my office will seek a speedy trial in this matter, consistent with the public interest and the rights of the accused. We very much look forward to presenting our case to a jury of citizens in the Southern District of Florida."
Smith offered praise for the prosecutors in his office, hailing them as "among the most talented and experienced in Department of Justice."
"They have investigated this case, hewing to the highest ethical standards, and they will continue to do so is this case proceed," he added.
The indictment includes 37 felony counts against Trump, including 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information, a crime under the Espionage Act. The others counts are conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document or record, concealing a document in a federal investigation, scheme to conceal, and false statements and representation.
Trump’s longtime aide, Walt Nauta, is also named in the indictment. He was a military valet during Trump’s presidency and is currently executive assistant to the former president.
The indictment alleges Trump and Nauta conspired to mislead one of the former president’s attorneys by moving boxes of classified documents out of a Mar-a-Lago storage room just before the attorney conducted a search so that the attorney would not hand over the records to the FBI and grand jury. Trump also provided the FBI and grand jury with just some of the documents being sought while claiming to be cooperating fully, according to the indictment.
Trump and Nauta also conspired together by suggesting the lawyer falsely tell the FBI and grand jury the former president did not have documents listed in a May 11, 2022, subpoena and that the attorney should hide or destroy the documents.
Trump’s actions prompted a different Trump lawyer to make false statements to the grand jury and FBI in a sworn certification that a “diligent search” of Mar-a-Lago had been conducted after the former president received a subpoena and that all requested documents had been turned over,” prosecutors allege.
FBI agents found more than 100 classified documents at Mar-a-Lago more than two months after the Trump lawyer searched the property, according to the indictment.
According to the indictment, prosecutors allege that Nauta lied to federal investigators during an interview when he claimed that he was unaware of Trump’s document boxes being brought to Mar-a-Lago, that he did not know how the boxes were transported there and stated that he didn’t know were Trump’s boxes had been stored.
“I wish I could tell you,” he told investigators. “I honestly just don’t know.”
His claims were preceded by pages of text messages discussing plans to move and cover boxes between himself and Trump employees and representatives.
Twelve days after the grand jury issued a subpoena into the document investigation on May 11, Trump spoke with his attorneys at Mar-a-Lago to discuss their response. According to the indictment, Trump asked what the consequences would be for not cooperating.
“Wouldn't it be better if we just told them we don’t have anything here?” one of the attorneys recalled Trump saying.
The indictment says Trump, along with Nauta and White House staff, was personally involved in packing items as he prepared to leave the White House in January 2021. Trump took “scores of boxes, many of which contained classified documents” to Mar-a-Lago, according to prosecutors, who say he was not authorized to possess or retain those records.
The content in the classified documents came from the CIA, Defense Department, National Security Agency, Energy Department and other executive branch departments, per the indictment.
Trump had previously stored hundreds of boxes at the White House that included information about defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries, the U.S. nuclear program, vulnerabilities of the U.S. and its allies to military attack, and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack, according to the indictment.
“The unauthorized disclosure of these classified documents could put at risk the nation security of the United States, foreign relations, the safety of the United States military, and human sources and the continued viability of sensitive intelligence collection methods,” the indictment reads.
It’s unclear how many of those White House boxes made their way to Mar-a-Lago.
Boxes were allegedly stored in “various locations” at the club, which hosted events for tens of thousands of people from January 2021 to August 2022. From January to March 2021, some boxes were stored in ballrooms where events took place, including on a stage, prosecutors say. Photos included in the indictment also show boxes at one point stored in a bathroom and shower at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
After boxes were moved to a storage room, Nauta found one box had fallen and its contents, including a document marked “SECRET//REL,” were spilling onto the floor, according to the indictment.
Some boxes were brought to Trump’s Bedminster golf club in New Jersey, prosecutors say.
On two occasions, the former president showed classified documents to others — both times at Bedminster — including one meeting in which he was recorded acknowledging the document was “highly classified” and he did not declassify it.
The indictment unsealed Friday is the latest in a string of legal troubles in recent months for the former president, who is currently mounting a third White House bid.
In March, Trump was indicted in New York for his alleged role in hush money payments made to an adult film star ahead of the 2016 election. He pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the Manhattan district attorney’s probe.
Last month, a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996 and awarded her $5 million.
Trump also faces investigations in Georgia, where a district attorney is probing efforts to overturn the state's election results in 2020, and in Washington, where a separate probe by Smith is looking into the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.