Trump, facing indictment over classified documents, rants: âNo other presidentâs were chargedâ
Former President Donald Trump went on a rant Monday over the possibility of being hit with charges after his lawyers met personally with special counsel Jack Smith and as the investigation into classified documents he took to Mar-a-Lago appears to be entering its final stage.
Several Trump attorneys were spotted by reporters leaving the Justice Department headquarters after the 90-minute meeting, which could be related to Trump’s demand for a meeting about the probe.
The lawyers met with Smith himself, NBC News reported.
Trump himself suggested that an indictment could be coming soon in a statement posted on his social media site just minutes after the lawyers emerged from the Washington, D.C. meeting.
“How can DoJ possibly charge me, who did nothing wrong, when no other president’s were charged,” Trump posted.
Trump two weeks ago demanded a face-to-face meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland to raise concerns about what they alleged was prosecutorial misconduct and overreach by Smith.
The meeting with Smith could be a final chance to convince prosecutors not to charge Trump in the documents case or to file lesser charges.
The investigation into the mishandling of classified documents is thought to be nearing its end.
The grand jury hearing evidence in the case is reportedly expected to meet this week after not meeting for about a month.
That could be a sign that a decision on charging Trump or others is imminent, although the panel could also be simply hearing fresh evidence.
The former president took thousands of documents with him to Mar-a-Lago when he left office in 2021.
After months of haggling with federal archives officials, he returned several boxes. But prosecutors demanded the rest, prompting them to hit him with a subpoena.
They later became convinced that he was hiding more documents, prompting a judge-approved search that turned up more than 100 additional classified documents.
Prosecutors may consider that defiance and other steps taken by Trump to be evidence of obstruction of justice.
The grand jury has also heard evidence that Trump showed the documents to unauthorized third parties, which could violate the espionage act.
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