Trump says he'll plead not guilty after federal indictment

Trump is set to appear in federal court in Miami on Tuesday.

To read live updates from Tuesday's court appearance, click here.

Former President Donald Trump has been indicted on federal charges in an investigation into his handling of classified documents, according to an indictment unsealed on Friday.

The indictment comes after more than 100 documents with classified markings were found at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in August 2022.

Trump was charged with 37 counts: 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information; one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice; one count of withholding a document or record; one count of corruptly concealing a document or record; one count of concealing a document in a federal investigation; one count of scheme to conceal; and one count of false statements and representations.

The indictment of Trump, who has repeatedly denied any allegations of impropriety, is unprecedented for a former president.


0

Federal indictment expected to be 'speaking indictment': Sources

The federal indictment against former President Donald Trump is expected to be a "speaking indictment" that will lay out chapter and verse the government's case to the public, according to sources.

Read more about what an indictment means here.

-ABC News' Ivan Pereira


Trump team anticipated indictment for several days: Sources

Former President Donald Trump's team has been anticipating a federal indictment for the past several days, sources said.

Sources said his team is already planning a trip down to Miami and is thinking of holding a campaign event around this indictment.

-ABC News' John Santucci


DOJ, White House decline to comment

Spokespeople for the Justice Department and Special Counsel Jack Smith's office declined to comment Thursday evening on Trump's announcement he was informed of his indictment.

White House Spokesperson Ian Sams also declined to comment on Trump saying his attorneys have been informed he has been indicted in the classified documents investigation.

Sams referred ABC News to the DOJ, which he said "conducts its criminal investigations independently."

-ABC News' Molly Nagle and Alexander Mallin


Trump charged in 'rocket docket' court -- and why that could matter

Former President Donald Trump will face charges in the Southern District of Florida, a venue whose reputation for swift proceedings has earned it "rocket docket" status -- a colloquialism that reflects its strict adherence to the speedy trial clock.

Walter Norkin, a former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of Florida, explains why that might be notable.

"The Southern District of Florida is one of the few districts in the country that operates under a 'rocket docket' and, in distinction from the District of Columbia, you can expect a criminal case to be resolved within six months of an indictment issuing," Norkin told ABC News. "The judges in the Southern District of Florida adhere very strictly to the Speedy Trial clock, which, with limited exceptions, requires trial or conviction to occur within 70 days."

As a strategic matter, according to Norkin, the special counsel may have chosen this particular venue as a means to circumvent that inclination as prosecutors face the prospect of "certain policy considerations that take effect as an election nears."

"To the extent a defense strategy would be to delay trial," Norkin continued, "they will have a heavier burden executing that plan in Southern District of Florida than they would in another district."

-ABC News' Lucien Bruggeman


Details revealed in indictment

The indictment alleged that, after the FBI subpoenaed former President Donald Trump, he "endeavored to obstruct the FBI and grand jury investigations and conceal his continued retention of classified documents by" actions including: suggesting his attorney falsely tell the FBI and grand jury that he didn’t have documents responsive to the subpoena; directing aide Walt Nauta to move boxes of documents to conceal them from Trump’s attorney, the FBI and grand jury; and causing a false certification to be submitted to the FBI and grand jury saying all documents were provided "while knowing that, in fact, not all such documents has been produced."

The indictment noted that between January 2021 and August 2022, Mar-a-Lago hosted more than 150 social events, including weddings and fundraisers "that together drew tens of thousands of guests."

The indictment mentions five of Trump’s statements in 2016, when still a candidate for president, including when he said in August 2016 that "in my administration I’m going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information."

According to the indictment, on June 2, an attorney for Trump went through the boxes in the storage room, removed 38 documents with classified markings, placed them in a redwood folder and sealed it with clear duct tape.

Trump allegedly asked, "Did you find anything?…. Is it bad? Good?" and they discussed what to do with the documents, according to prosecutors.

Trump's attorney said at that point Trump "made a funny motion as though- well okay why don't you take them with you to your hotel room and if there’s anything really bad in there, like, you know, pluck it out. And that was the motion that he made. He didn't say that."

According to the indictment, Trump and Nauta misled one of the Trump attorneys by moving boxes that contained documents with classified markings so that the attorney would not find the documents and produce them to a federal grand jury.

The indictment details how Nauta allegedly lied to FBI agents in May 2022 when he claimed to have no knowledge of the classified documents being brought to Mar-a-Lago.