Former US President Donald Trump has been told that he has been charged in the document case and must appear in court next week.
Former US President Donald Trump says he has been informed that he will be charged in the document case and must appear in court in Miami next week.
– The corrupt Biden administration has informed my lawyers that I am indicted, Trump writes on his own platform Truth Social.
He adds that it is apparently in the document file. A number of American media have been confirmed by sources that the former president has been indicted.
Furthermore, he writes that he has been asked to appear in a federal court in Miami on Tuesday.
Claims he is innocent
The New York Times writes that Trump is charged with seven offences, including perjury and conspiring to obstruct prosecution.
The Ministry of Justice has not confirmed the indictment.
– I would never have thought that something like this could happen to a former American president, writes Trump.
– I am an innocent man, he writes further in capital letters.
Several American media reported on Wednesday that Trump has received a so-called “target letter” from the Ministry of Justice, which is often sent to people who are about to be indicted by a grand jury in federal criminal cases.
Two matters
Federal authorities are investigating Trump for his handling of secret documents after he left the White House and for alleged attempts to cling to presidential power after his 2020 election defeat.
In August 2022, FBI agents entered Trump’s residence Mar-a-Lago in Florida and found around 13,000 documents. Around 100 of these were marked as secret, although Trump’s lawyers had previously said that all classified documents had been handed over to US authorities.
The investigations are led by Special Investigator Jack Smith.
Trump has already been indicted by authorities in New York in the so-called bribery case. He is the first president in American history to be indicted in a criminal case.
Favorite among Republicans
Trump is the favorite to win the Republican nomination and become Joe Biden’s opponent in the presidential election next year.
He has been involved in a long series of controversies that could have ruined the careers of other politicians. He describes himself as the victim of a political witch hunt, and accuses the US authorities of working against him.
Trump’s lead over the other Republican candidates has only increased in the polls since he was indicted in the New York case.
Less than 20 minutes after he announced that he was being indicted in the document case, Trump began using it to solicit campaign donations, AP writes.
Sharp reactions
The White House did not want to comment on the news of the indictment. A spokesperson says that they were not aware of the indictment, and that they first heard about it through the press.
Criticism has been pouring in from the Republican side.
– The Biden regime, realizing that they cannot beat or cheat their way to another victory, has taken the unheard-of step of impeaching President Trump, says spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt for Make America Great Again Inc., a fundraising group that supports Trump’s election campaign.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy says that “all Americans who believe in the rule of law stand with President Trump.”
– Today is really a dark day for America, he says. Furthermore, it is said that it is “unconscionable for a president to indict the leading candidate who challenges him”.
