Former US president Donald Trump has confirmed he has been indicted by the US Department of Justice for mishandling sensitive government documents recovered in raids last year on his Mar-a-Lago home.
Mr Trump has been charged with seven counts in the federal indictment, making him the first former president to face federal charges, according to CNN.
Mr Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social that he has been summoned to appear at the federal courthouse in Miami on Tuesday.
“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,” he wrote.
Mr Trump’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A representative for Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is handling the investigation, declined to comment.
Reuters could not immediately learn what charges Mr Trump is facing.
In a sworn statement to a federal court last year, an FBI agent said there was probable cause to believe several crimes were committed, including obstruction and the illegal retention of sensitive defence records.
The US Justice Department has been investigating whether Mr Trump mishandled classified documents he retained after leaving the White House in 2021.
Investigators seized roughly 13,000 documents from Mr Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, almost a year ago.
One hundred were marked as classified, even though one of Mr Trump’s lawyers had previously said all records with classified markings had been returned to the government.
Mr Trump has previously defended his retention of documents, suggesting he declassified them while president.
However, Mr Trump has not provided evidence of this and his lawyers have declined to make that argument in court filings.
– With AAP
