Special counsel Jack Smith says he'll seek "speedy trial" for Trump in documents case
Washington — Special counsel Jack Smith said Friday that his office will seek a "speedy trial" for former President Donald Trump, who has been indicted on 37 counts related to sensitive documents recovered from his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after he left the White House.
"We have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone," Smith said. "Applying those laws, collecting facts, that's what determines the outcome of the investigation."
Smith's statement came hours after the Justice Department unsealed the 44-page federal indictment, which alleged that Trump "endeavored to obstruct the FBI and grand jury investigations and conceal retention of classified documents." The indictment names Walt Nauta, an aide to Trump who served as a White House valet, as a co-conspirator.
Smith encouraged everyone to read the indictment for themselves "to understand the scope and the gravity of the crimes charged."
The former president announced on Thursday night, and U.S. officials confirmed, that a federal grand jury indicted Trump, a historic move that marks the first time a former president has been criminally charged by the Justice Department. Trump has been summoned to appear in federal district court in Miami on Tuesday for an arraignment.
During an Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago by the FBI, investigators seized 33 boxes of material, 13 of which contained just over 100 documents marked classified. Before that tranche of roughly 100 sensitive records was discovered, the National Archives retrieved 15 boxes containing presidential records from Mar-a-Lago in January 2022. Those boxes included 184 documents with classification markings, totaling over 700 pages.
Representatives for Trump also handed over to Justice Department investigators in early June 2022 a folder containing 38 records marked classified after receiving a subpoena for "any and all" documents bearing classification markings that were in Trump's possession at Mar-a-Lago.
In all, roughly 300 documents marked classified were recovered by federal investigators from the South Florida property after Trump left office.