1 year ago
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The Justice Department has officially notified Donald Trump that he is the target of a criminal investigation for the mishandling of classified documents. This step may signal that the federal grand jury is prepared to hand down indictments to Trump. However, delivery of this letter could mean it will be several days before any such indictments are released.
ABC News reports that attorneys for Trump met directly with special counsel Jack Smith on Monday, though it’s not clear if the letter was delivered to the attorneys at that time. Trump followed that meeting with a series of posts on his failing Truth Social media platform, including saying “The Marxists and Fascists in the DOJ & FBI are going after me at a level and speed never seen before in our Country, and I did nothing wrong.” He also called Smith “a Trump hater” and made multiple false statements claiming that President Joe Biden has kept “thousands” of classified documents. The Guardian reports that Trump's attorneys were provided with the target letter last week, several days before the Monday meeting.
The Department of Justice guidelines suggest that target letters be delivered to subjects of long-running investigations “in appropriate cases” and the prosecutor “is encouraged to notify such person a reasonable time before seeking an indictment in order to afford him or her an opportunity to testify before the grand jury."
