Former president Donald Trump said on June 8 that he had been indicted by special counsel Jack Smith as part of the investigation into his handling of classified documents.
The indictment is the conclusion of a years-long saga that started when the president moved out of the White House following the 2020 election.
The federal inquiry has led to the raid on Trump’s personal residence at Mar-a-Lago. The following is the timeline of the events leading up to the indictment.
2021
Jan. 18
CBS Miami reports that at least two moving company trucks are spotted at President Donald Trump’s residence at Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.
Jan. 19
Trump signs a letter designating Mark Meadows and others to be in charge of his presidential records. In a separate document, Trump also declassifies “certain materials related to the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation.” That probe was launched in 2016 to examine possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives. Special Counsel Robert Mueller, former FBI director, took over the investigation in 2017. In 2019, he concluded that there was no evidence that Trump or his campaign “colluded” with Russians to sway the 2016 election.
Jan. 20
Hours before Trump’s tenure ends, Meadows, Trump’s chief of staff, writes his own memo about the Crossfire Hurricane records. “The Office of Legal Counsel has advised that the Privacy Act does not apply to the White House,” he writes. Still, Meadows says, to avoid “unwarranted invasion of personal privacy,” he is returning “the bulk of the binder of declassified documents” to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and requesting a Privacy Act review. The Washington Examiner later reports that Meadows’ memo resulted in the DOJ blocking the records from release.
As the Republican president’s administration concludes, the Presidential Records Act requires Trump to provide all records from his presidency to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). However, a Trump attorney, Timothy Parlatore, would later publicly state that NARA, in its dealings with Trump, deviated from procedures used with several previous administrations.
Democrat President Joe Biden is inaugurated as the 46th president, although Trump disputes the election results. He has not conceded.
By Janice Hisle
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