Trump's indictment has been unsealed. Read the 37 charges brought by federal prosecutors.
- A federal grand jury brought criminal charges against former President Donald Trump.
- The Justice Department brought the case over Trump taking government records to Mar-a-Lago.
A federal grand jury indicted former President Donald Trump, marking the first time the Justice Department brought criminal charges against a former president.
Prosecutors allege Trump broke federal law when he took documents with him from the White House to Mar-a-Lago, rather than leaving them in the hands of the National Archives, which had discovered apparent missing records and sought their return. Some of the records included top-secret national security information.
Of the 37 charges against Trump, 31 are over alleged violations of the Espionage Act for "willful retention of national defense information." Trump also conspired to obstruct justice, lied to law enforcement, and violated three different statutes relates to withholding and concealing government records, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors also named Waltine Nauta, a personal aide for Trump, as a co-defendant in the case. He worked with Trump to break laws by spiriting away the classified documents to Mar-a-Lago and lying about it, prosecutors alleged.
The FBI executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago in August of 2022, seizing boxes of documents sought by the National Archives. In subsequent legal filings, the Justice Department revealed it was part of a criminal investigation into whether Trump broke laws including the Espionage Act, and whether he obstructed justice.
Trump has denied doing anything wrong and has argued that he can simply declassify documents "by thinking about it."
The indictment marks the second live criminal case against Trump, adding to a pending case from the Manhattan District Attorney's office alleging he falsified business records through hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels.
Read the full text of the indictment here:
Editor's note: Portions of this article were prepared in the weeks preceding Trump's indictment.