US media reported that federal prosecutors have told former President Donald Trump's agents that their client is under investigation over his handling of classified documents after he left the White House, a move that paves the way for an indictment.
The New York Times, CNN and other media reported Wednesday evening that Trump's lawyers received the notification from Attorney General Jack Smith's office, meaning the investigation is close to indicting the former president who is aspiring to return to the White House in next year's election.
Trump is accused of taking with him when he left the White House in early 2021 entire boxes of official documents, including defense documents classified as "top secret," and when presidential archivists asked him to return them for safekeeping, as required by law, he refused, in violation of federal laws.
U.S. media did not say when the former president's lawyers received the notification, but CNN said Trump's defense attorneys met with Justice Department officials on Monday.
Attorney General Jack Smith, tasked with independently overseeing the investigation into the case, was among the department officials Trump's lawyers met with.
The former president was quick to comment on media reports about the possibility of being charged in this case, saying - on his social media platform "Truth Social" - "No one told me that I am accused, and I should not be because I did not do anything wrong."
On August 2022, <>, agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) searched Trump's Florida home, which the former president strongly denounced, as he said that he was being politically persecuted to prevent him from running again for president.
Trump faces investigations and charges in several cases, one of which was a decision by a jury in a civilian court last month to hold him responsible for damages to a former writer and journalist who accused him of raping her in the nineties.
The jury concluded that Trump did not rape the writer but held him responsible for defaming her and ordered him to pay her $5 million in damages.