Trump's legal affairs

  

Donald Trump. Alex Brandon / AP 

 

Trump's legal affairs  

Sources: Trump frustrated by the indictment - had been given the impression that everything was calm  

 

Former US President Donald Trump will appear in court in Miami on Tuesday when the indictments are to be presented, his lawyer James Trusty said, according to several media outlets. 

 

alleged seven counts are expected to include conspiracy, making false statements, obstruction of justice and charges falling under US espionage laws. Trusty calls the allegations "laughable".  

 

Another of Trump's lawyers, Alina Habba, tells Fox News that Trump is currently at his golf resort in Bedminster.  

 

- He is in good spirits. The American people need to know that this is just a normal day for him and that he is fine. 

 

Meanwhile, sources tell CBS that Trump is frustrated that his inner circle has been saying for months that this probably wouldn't happen. A source expresses it as Trump saying that there was too much "happy talk for too long".  

 

The federal investigation underlying the indictment concerns Trump's handling of classified documents after he left the White House. Last year, the FBI seized boxes of documents from the former president's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. 

  

Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Jose Luis Magana / AP  

Republicans' anger after the indictment: "It's immoral"  

 

After Donald Trump announced that he is being indicted over the handling of classified documents, the ex-president's party colleagues have been quick to condemn the indictment. 

 

“It is a dark day for the United States. It is immoral for a sitting president to impeach the opposition candidate in the middle of an election period," writes Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Twitter.  

 

The reaction fell largely along party lines. Even the Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis condemns the indictment against Trump and believes that the Democrats are using "federal law enforcement as a weapon against the free society". 

 

Former President Donald Trump at golf club. Alex Brandon / AP

 

Analysis: The clock is ticking before the 2024 presidential election  

 

Why is ex-president Donald Trump being indicted right now? According to some observers, the clock is ticking for criminal prosecutor Jack Smith, writes the BBC.  

 

Smith has been appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to lead the federal investigation — and the Justice Department has a policy of not prosecuting a sitting president. Given that Trump is running for the Republicans in the 2024 presidential election, there may be pressure to pursue the case before the election, according to the BBC.  

 

The New York Times' Peter Baker writes in an analysis that the indictment, which deals with the ex-president's handling of secret documents, closes the circle.  

 

“The former president attacked Hillary Clinton for her handling of sensitive information. Now the same issue threatens his chances of regaining the presidency.”  

 

The new indictment has a much greater significance than when Trump was indicted for accounting violations earlier this spring, according to Baker. Partly it is federal, and thus represents the country as a whole, and partly it is about the handling of national secrets.