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Donald Trump

Photo: Charlie Neibergall / AP

Former U.S. President Donald Trump has been indicted in the affair of secret documents. Trump says the Biden administration has informed his lawyers about it. CNN and the New York Times also report on the indictment.

"The corrupt Biden administration has informed my lawyers that charges have been brought against me, apparently for the box hoax," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. He had been subpoenaed to appear in federal court in Miami on Tuesday.

FBI seized documents

Last August, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) seized boxes filled with numerous documents, including many with classification levels, during a raid on Trump's private estate Mar-a-Lago in the US state of Florida. Trump had taken the documents with him from the White House to Mar-a-Lago at the end of his term in January 2021.

According to a law, presidents must hand over official documents to the National Archives after the end of their term of office. In addition, there are strict legal rules for dealing with secret documents.

It had just become known that Trump's former chief of staff Mark Meadows had testified. He was reportedly questioned in connection with a special counsel's investigation into the former president. According to reports, it was also about the secret documents. In addition, an incriminating audio document had surfaced.

Indictment in the Stormy Daniels case

Trump was indicted in March as the first ex-president in U.S. history, it was about a hush money payment to the actress Stormy Daniels before the presidential election in 2016.

The trial in New York in the affair is scheduled to begin in the spring of next year – and thus in the middle of the Republican primary campaign for the presidential candidacy.

The Republican criticizes the numerous investigations against him as politically motivated and claims that it is merely an attempt by his opponents to prevent him from returning to the White House. Trump officially announced last November that he wanted to run again as a candidate in the presidential election in November 2024.

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