The Department of Justice has filed seven counts against former President Donald Trump, a move that will surely divide Americans into factions in advance of the 2024 presidential election, in which Trump is a declared candidate.
The charges include conspiracy to obstruct and willful retention of documents that were found when the FBI raided his home at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, where he had stored documents the Justice Department said were classified.
“I have been summoned to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday, at 3 pm. I never thought it possible that such a thing could happen to a former President of the United States, who received far more votes than any sitting President in the History of our Country, and is currently leading, by far, all Candidates, both Democrat and Republican, in Polls of the 2024 Presidential Election,” Trump wrote on social media Thursday evening.
“I AM AN INNOCENT MAN. THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION IS TOTALLY CORRUPT. THIS IS ELECTION INTERFERENCE & A CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!” Trump wrote on TruthSocial, the social media site he owns.
In a video on TruthSocial, he reminded viewers that he not only received more votes than any sitting president in history in 2020, but that he is now leading in the polls for president for 2024, which makes this a case of election interference. He called it “lawfare,” which refers to warfare conducted by legal proceedings.
Watch Trump’s video response here.
The Department of Justice has not issued a news release about the matter as of this writing.
This is the second time Trump has been indicted, but this is his first federal indictment. Although classified documents have been found at President Joe Biden’s offices and in his garage, no such similar indictment has been issued.
In the first indictment, the case against him has to do with supposed hush money paid to a sex worker, Stormy Daniels, during his 2016 campaign for president.
Hillary Clinton was found to be in possession of classified materials, and was using a personal email address to have classified information sent to her, but no such indictment was ever filed against her. Her excuse was that there were no classified markings on the emails sent to her that were on her private server, in the bathroom of her home. But an investigation showed that over 100 documents in her possession contained classified information.
