Watch Live: Special counsel speaks after historic Trump indictment
HomeHome > Blog > Watch Live: Special counsel speaks after historic Trump indictment

Watch Live: Special counsel speaks after historic Trump indictment

Jan 26, 2024

▶ Watch Video: CBS News Live

Washington — Special counsel Jack Smith will deliver a statement on Friday, the Justice Department announced, hours after the unprecedented federal indictment of former President Donald Trump in connection to his handling of sensitive government records after leaving the White House.

The former president announced, and U.S. officials confirmed, that a federal grand jury indicted Trump, a historic move that marks the first time a former president has been criminally charged by the Justice Department. Trump has been summoned to appear in federal district court in Miami on Tuesday for an arraignment.

Trump faces 37 counts related to sensitive documents recovered at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after he left the White House.

During an Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago by the FBI, investigators seized 33 boxes of material, 13 of which contained just over 100 documents marked classified. Before that tranche of roughly 100 sensitive records was discovered, the National Archives retrieved 15 boxes containing presidential records from Mar-a-Lago in January 2022. Those boxes included 184 documents with classification markings, totaling over 700 pages.

Representatives for Trump also handed over to Justice Department investigators in early June 2022 a folder containing 38 records marked classified after receiving a subpoena for "any and all" documents bearing classification markings that were in Trump's possession at Mar-a-Lago.

In all, roughly 300 documents marked classified were recovered by federal investigators from the South Florida property after Trump left office.