Trump is being charged with Espionage Act violations, conspiracy, obstruction, lawyer says

(Image credit: Kyle Mazza / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

A federal grand jury in Miami indicted former President Donald Trump on Thursday, Trump and his lawyers announced, handing up seven charges related to Trump's retention of classified documents after leaving office and alleged efforts to hinder their return to the National Archives. "The indictment carries unmistakably grave legal consequences, including the possibility of prison if Trump's convicted," The Associated Press reported.

Trump proclaimed his innocence on social media. "I am innocent," he said in a video. "We will prove that very, very soundly and hopefully very quickly." He began fundraising off the indictment within minutes of announcing it.

The indictment itself is under seal, and it may not be released publicly before Trump's arraignment in Miami on Tuesday. But the Justice Department sent a summons with a summary of the charges to Trump's legal team on Thursday afternoon, Trump lawyer James Trusty told CNN Thursday night. He said the charges include conspiracy to obstruct justice, false statements, obstruction, unauthorized retention of national security documents and other Espionage Act violations.

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The charge of unauthorized retention of national security documents, part of the alleged Espionage Act violations, theoretically could subject Trump "to 10 years in prison for each count, although defendants in other Espionage Act cases have received significantly less than the maximum," The New York Times reported. Although Trump "has claimed — without evidence — that he declassified all the files he took to Mar-a-Lago, prosecutors would not technically need to prove that they were still classified because the Espionage Act predates the classification system and does not refer to it as an element."

The conspiracy counts would require special counsel Jack Smith's team to charge at least one other person with helping Trump agree to and act toward committing a specific crime, the Times explained. It's not clear who that second defendant would be. The obstruction charges, tied to Trump's efforts to allegedly rebuff the subpoena for the classified files, carry a penalty of up to 20 years per offense.

"Since Smith has been using grand juries in Florida and Washington, D.C., in recent days, it's unclear whether the indictment Trump disclosed Thursday is the only set of charges he will face from the special prosecutor in connection with the classified documents probe," Politico reported.

"Trump is frustrated not just with the indictment but with people in his inner circle who reassured him for months that it was very unlikely to happen," CBS News reported. Trump advisers, on the other hand, told The Washington Post that "Trump's team so expected his indictment that they already had fundraising pitches, statements and videos ready."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.