DONALD TRUMP INDICTED RECAP: Former president faces charges over classified documents at Mar-a-Lago

As much of the GOP remained divided Thursday on whether to back embattled former president Donald Trump, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy made his allegiance to his fellow Republican quite clear in a pointed post to social media.

Slamming Trump's indictment as a 'brazen weaponization' of the federal government's power, the California rep called on other Americans to follow suit with his decision to stand by the polarizing politician.

'Today is indeed a dark day for the United States of America,' a tweet from McCarthy that's since been viewed nearly 5million times reads.

He continued: 'It is unconscionable for a President to indict the leading candidate opposing him. Joe Biden kept classified documents for decades.

'I, and every American who believes in the rule of law, stand with President Trump against this grave injustice.

'House Republicans will hold this brazen weaponization of power accountable.'

In the wake of Thursday's bombshell indictment - which contains seven still-shrouded counts - Trump is facing an espionage charge identical to that of 21-year-old alleged Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira.

Both charges involve violations of the Espionage Act - a more than 100-year-old federal law designed to prohibit interference with US military operations.

Trump attorney Jim Trusty on Thursday told CNN that a summons his client had received included at least one charge related to 18 U.S.C. 793, a section of the act that penalizes perpetrators for unlawfully retaining information pertaining to the country's 'national defense.'

Texeira, a former member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, is accused of violating that same subsection by releasing hundreds of thousands of secret dossiers involving the Ukraine war on a gaming chat server - one of gravest intelligence breaches in US history.

The leak included photos of classified documents, including materials he improperly removed from the Massachusetts base where he worked. He is in jail awaiting trial.

Last month, Texeira's lawyers asked for him to be released on house arrest pending the trial but Hennessy said he was a flight risk and could further obstruct justice.

The judge said the number of Americans he put at risk was as 'long as a phone book'.

The contents of Trump's alleged infractions, meanwhile, are still largely unknown - but if found guilty of violating the statute, both could be punished up to 10 years’ imprisonment.

The details of Trump's indictment will likely be laid bare in the coming days.

Trump's Thursday indictment comes nearly a year after FBI agents conducted their raid on his compound Mar-a-Lago, following an investigation that began when the National Archives alerted the FBI that 184 documents the ex-president returned a year after leaving office were classified.

Trump, meanwhile, has denied any wrondoing.

Here's a summary of the events that led to his historic indictment:

January 20, 2021: Donald Trump leaves the White House as Joe Biden is sworn in as the nation's 46th president; Trump goes his West Beach home Mar-a-Lago.

May 2021: National Archives and Records Administration realizes some records from Trump's presidency are missing

December 2021: Archives requests the documents from the former president; in late December, a Trump representative informed the agency that an additional 12 boxes of records that should have been turned over had been found at the former president's Mar-a-Lago club and residence and were ready to be retrieved

January 18, 2022: Archives received 15 boxes of material that had been stored at Mar-a-Lago, some of which were found to contain classified material

The agency said it 'identified items marked as classified national security information, up to the level of Top Secret and including Sensitive Compartmented Information and Special Access Program materials.' 

In total, the boxes were found to contain 184 documents with classified markings, including 67 marked confidential, 92 secret and 25 top secret. 

February 8, 2022: The National Archives issues a public statement saying it is still searching for more of Trump's presidential records

February 9, 2022: The matter is referred to the Justice Department

February 10, 2022: U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee announces an investigation into Trump's handling of the documents

May 2022: After several back-and-forths with Trump's legal team, the Justice Department issues a subpoena for additional records they believe to be in the former president's Florida home

Investigators believe after that subpoena arrived, storage boxes, including some containing classified material, were moved from a Mar-a-Lago storage area, so Trump personally examined some of them.

April 12, 2022: Archives informed Trump of its intent to provide the documents to the FBI, at the request of the Justice Department. A Trump representative requested an extension until April 29.

April 29, 2022: The Justice Department sent a letter to Trump's lawyers seeking immediate access to the material, 'citing 'important national security interest.'

The department wrote: 'Access to the materials is not only necessary for purposes of our ongoing criminal investigation, but the Executive Branch must also conduct an assessment of the potential damage resulting from the apparent manner in which these materials were stored and transported and take any necessary remedial steps.'

May 10, 2022: Archives informed Trump's lawyers that it would provide the FBI access to the records as soon as May 12.

May 11, 2022: The Justice Department issued a subpoena for additional records.

June 2, 2022: Walt Nauta and two employees move documents out of a store room. Hours later, Trump's lawyers contact the DOJ and say they are welcome to visit and retrieve the documents 

June 3, 2022: Three FBI agents and one DOJ attorney go to Mar-a-Lago to retrieve the additional material. They were given a single Redweld envelope, double-wrapped in tape, containing the documents, according to later court filings. That envelope contained 38 records with classification markings, including five papers marked confidential, 16 marked secret and 17 marked top secret

August 5, 2022: DOJ applied for a search warrant for Mar-a-Lago, citing 'probable cause' that additional presidential records and records containing classified information remained at Trump's Florida home. Court papers show that the original search warrant application showed agents believed that 'evidence of obstruction will be found at the premises.'

August 8, 2022: FBI agents raid Mar-a-Lago: They recover 18 documents marked as top secret, 54 marked secret, 31 marked as confidential, and 11,179 government documents or photographs that had no classification markings.

August 22, 2022: Two weeks after the FBI's search, Trump separately asks the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida for a so-called special master to review the documents, prompting the Justice Department's 54-page response.

August 26, 2022: The Justice Department releases a heavily redacted affidavit — a sworn statement outlining the evidence giving law enforcement officials probable cause to ask a judge to approve a search warrant — after media outlets sued for its release. A judge approved its release.

August 30, 2022: DoJ files its response to Trump's request for a special master review.

September 2, 2022: The FBI reveals in a court filing that it recovered more than 11,000 government documents and photographs during the August 8 search of Trump's estate, as well as 48 empty folders labeled as 'classified.' U.S. judge agrees to appoint special master in Trump search case.

October 2022: Walt Nauta testifies to federal officials in the investigation; telling them that he moved boxes at the former president's request at a time when the government was seeking the return of classified material 

November 18, 2022: Jack Smith was appointed by Attorney General Merrick  Garland to serve as the Special Counsel 

March 2023: Trump's communications aide Margo Martin, who worked in the White House and then moved with Trump to Florida, appeared before the grand jury in Washington, DC. At least two dozen people – from Mar-a-Lago resort staff to members of Donald Trump's inner circle at the Florida estate – are subpoenaed to testify

April 2023: About a dozen current and former U.S. Secret Service officials assigned to Trump testify before the grand jury 

June 5, 2023: Trump's legal team meets with Smith at the Justice Department 

June 7, 2023: It's revealed a second grand jury in Florida has been hearing testimony; Taylor Budowich, who has worked as a spokesman for Trump, appeared before it

June 2023: The Justice Department recently informs Donald Trump's legal team that he is a target in a federal investigation into the possible mishandling of classified documents

June 8, 2023: Trump announces in a post on his Truth Social platform that he's been indicted for mishandling of classified documents and summoned to appear before a federal judge in Miami.

Iconic American televangelist Pat Robertson - who famously predicted an asteroid would hit the Earth after Donald Trump was reelected in 2020 - died Thursday at 93.

Robertson, a friend of Trump's, was a significant figure in the GOP in his own right, running unsuccessfully for president in 1988.

His TV show 'The 700 Club' gained an enormous audience, as well as several high-caliber guests, including US presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and Trump himself.

On Thursday, as news of his indictment spread, Trump eulogized the Christian Broadcasting Network, singing songs of praise.

He wrote on Truth Social: 'Today the World lost an incredible and powerful Voice for Faith and Freedom. Pat Robertson showed us that Belief in God produces results that can change the course of History.

'Pat's legacy lives on in the many endeavors and lives that he touched. He will be greatly missed. Our hearts and prayers are with his Family!'

Donald Trump has been indicted over 'his handling of classified documents after he left the White House' - but what exactly does the term mean?

In short, it refers to a formal accusation against someone who is suspected of committing a crime, filed after the conclusion of a grand jury investigation.

According to the justice department, when a person gets indicted, they 'are given formal notice that it is believed that they committed a crime.'

In essence, it informs them of the charges they face and other basic information - not to be confused with an arraignment, the term used to describe the accused individual's first appearance in front of a judge to face the charges.

It means Trump is facing federal charges, though is not under arrest. That can only come after a trial, followed by a guilty verdict.

Trusty on Thursday promised to fight for his high-powered client during his trial next week, claiming federal prosecutors 'extorted' him for a witness and engaged in 'criminal activity' leading up to today's indictment.

He is now demanding an investigation of internal communications to find out what happened during what he called a 'corrupt and politicized' process by federal officials, including prosecutor Jay Bratt, head of the counterintelligence section of DOJ's National Security Division.

He referenced an alleged incident where Bratt mentioned during a meeting to discuss his client that a lawyer for former Trump military aide Walt Nauta, Stanley Woodward, had applied for a judgeship – and suggested prosecutors tried to use it as 'extortion' leverage.

'Members of the Department of Justice, led by Jay Bratt, who was a pivotal figure in this investigation,' Trusty said.

'This is the guy who wanted to do a raid before they even had a subpoena out.'

He continued of what he painted as a government conspiracy: 'He apparently, along with five other people in his presence from DOJ, extorted a very well respected, very intelligent lawyer from Washington DC, saying essentially, if you want this judgeship that's on Joe Biden's desk, you have to flip your guy to cooperate against the President of the United States.'

Trusty went on to reference a report in the Guardian during his tirade, which covered a meeting prosecutors had with attorneys for Nauta while seeking his cooperation.

He then honed in on the DOJ's 'discovery' process, suggesting a legal information gathering effort. 'So we're going to want some discovery about just how far ranging this criminal activity was by prosecutors,' he said.

Trusty indicated that DOJ brushed off allegations they leveraged a witness to secure cooperated after they were raised. 'We got an email from the guy who actually did the extortion message from DOJ ... [that] they're not going to worry about their own dirty house,' he said.

Trusty also said Trump was innocent of charges of retention of classified material, obstruction, and the other charges against him.

'He is innocent. I mean, everything about this case is absolutely rotten. The misconduct that we've documented for an attorney general' he said, referencing AG Merrick Garland's decision to appoint Smith to place the case outside his direct control.

A source confided to DailyMail.com Thursday night that Trump has been indicted on seven charges in total, dealing with possession of the classified documents and allegations of obstruction.

All seven counts relate to those two areas, with one alleging he illegally took home national defense secrets in violation of the Espionage Act, and then made false statements afterwards that amounted to an obstruction of justice conspiracy.

Prosecutors have investigated the transfer of presidential files to his Mar-a-Lago Florida estate since last year, after the FBI raided it and recovered roughly 11,000 documents, including roughly 100 of which were classified.

The precise details of all the charges are not yet clear, with  Trump's lawyer Jim Trusty saying the team has received a 'summons' but not a full outline of the indictment.

He said it 'doesn't perfectly mirror an indictment' but contains language that 'suggests what the seven charges would be.'

'They basically break out from an Espionage Act charge, which is ludicrous under the facts of this case,' Trusty said. 'And several obstruction-based-type charges and then false statement charges, which are actually, again, kind of a crazy stretch just from the facts as we know it.'

He added: 'This is not biblically accurate, because I'm not looking at a charging document. I'm looking at a summary sheet.'

He said he expects to receive a cop either later tonight or over the weekend, or at Tuesday the absolute latest - the day Trump is due to appear in court.

'You're not going to see him, you know, hide in Scotland,' Trust said of his team's readiness to take on the historic case. 'He's going to be ready to handle this case and help his attorneys fight it.'

Trump's chief rival in the upcoming election Ron DeSantis responded to news of Trump's indictment on Twitter Thursday evening, seemingly siding with the former president in the process.

'The weaponization of federal law enforcement represents a mortal threat to a free society,' the 44-year-old Florida governor wrote.

'We have for years witnessed an uneven application of the law depending upon political affiliation.'

He went on to ask: 'Why so zealous in pursuing Trump yet so passive about Hillary or Hunter?'

DeSantis then promised if he manages to eke out a win next year, his administration 'will bring accountability to the DOJ, excise political bias and end weaponization once and for all.'

In a scathing post to his own social media platform Thursday, Trump confirmed he has been indicted, while insisting upon his innocence.

Branding the Biden Administration as 'totally corrupt', he accused officials employed under his successor of attempting to 'interfere' with the upcoming election - calling it 'a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time.

'I’m an innocent man,' he urged his nearly 4million followers on Truth social.

'We are a failing nation and a country in decline.'

He further claimed: 'I’m leading in the polls by a lot so they’re using lawfare to stop me.

'I am innocent and we will prove it. I just want to Make America again.'

As news of Thursday evening's historic indictment surfaced, the White House declined to comment on the legal action. 

When asked, an Oval office spokesperson deflected to the DOJ, saying the government org 'conducts its criminal investigations independently.'

Meanwhile, the Justice Department legally cannot comment on the ongoing case, according to insiders, due to the indictment still being under seal.

Trump’s attorneys, meanwhile, have said they have not been shown the indictment itself, but that a summons commanding Trump to appear in court had 'some language in it that suggests what the seven charges would be.'

He went on to mention the Espionage Act, as well as several false-statement and 'obstruction-based' charges.

Attorney john Rowley confirmed Trump has been indicted on seven counts, though he specific charges are still unknown.

In an unprecedented act, the Justice Department on Thursday put forward federal criminal charges against former President Donald J. Trump regarding allegedly mishandled classified documents he kept after leaving office.

 The DOJ hit the outspoken Republican with seven counts in total - including obstruction and a violation of the Espionage Act.

The decision serves as the culmination of a monthslong investigation into the legality and contents of the documents kept at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, which was raided last August by the FBI. 

The investigation is now led by special counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed by US Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Appointed in November after Trump's announcement that he plans to run for president a third time come 2024, Garland has also been perusing 'key aspects' of a DOJ probe into the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and if Trump intentionally sought to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power after his 2020 loss to Joe Biden.

Check back for continued real-time coverage into the indictment's contents - as well as its future implications for the aspiring presidential candidate.