Federal prosecution of Donald Trump, 2023-2024 (classified documents case)

New York prosecution
Donald Trump indictments, 2023-2025

Defendant: Donald Trump (R) Prosecutor: Alvin Bragg (D) Judge: Juan Merchan Court: New York Supreme Court
Important datesSentencing: January 10, 2025^[1] Verdict: May 30, 2024 Trial: April 15, 2024^[2] Arraignment: April 4, 2023 Indictment: March 30, 2023
Federal prosecution (classified documents case)
Defendant: Donald Trump (R) Prosecutor: Jack Smith Judge: Aileen Cannon Court: Southern District of Florida
Important datesAppeal dismissed: Nov. 26, 2024 Case dismissed: July 15, 2024 Arraignment: June 13, 2023 Indictment: June 8, 2023
Federal prosecution (2020 election certification case)
Defendant: Donald Trump (R) Prosecutor: Jack Smith Judge: Tanya S. Chutkan Court: United States District Court for the District of Columbia
Important datesCase dismissed: November 25, 2024 Arraignment: August 3, 2023 Indictment: August 1, 2023
Georgia prosecution
Defendant: Donald Trump (R) Prosecutor: Peter Skandalakis (formerly Fani Willis (D)) Judge: Scott McAfee Court: Fulton County Superior Court
Important datesCase dismissed: Nov. 26, 2025 Arraignment: Waived^[3] Indictment: August 14, 2023
See alsoNoteworthy criminal misconduct in American politics (2023-2024) • Impeachment of Donald Trump, 2021 • Impeachment of Donald Trump, 2019-2020

New York prosecution
Donald Trump indictments, 2023-2025

Defendant: Donald Trump (R) Prosecutor: Alvin Bragg (D) Judge: Juan Merchan Court: New York Supreme Court
Important datesSentencing: January 10, 2025^[1] Verdict: May 30, 2024 Trial: April 15, 2024^[2] Arraignment: April 4, 2023 Indictment: March 30, 2023
Federal prosecution (classified documents case)
Defendant: Donald Trump (R) Prosecutor: Jack Smith Judge: Aileen Cannon Court: Southern District of Florida
Important datesAppeal dismissed: Nov. 26, 2024 Case dismissed: July 15, 2024 Arraignment: June 13, 2023 Indictment: June 8, 2023
Federal prosecution (2020 election certification case)
Defendant: Donald Trump (R) Prosecutor: Jack Smith Judge: Tanya S. Chutkan Court: United States District Court for the District of Columbia
Important datesCase dismissed: November 25, 2024 Arraignment: August 3, 2023 Indictment: August 1, 2023
Georgia prosecution
Defendant: Donald Trump (R) Prosecutor: Peter Skandalakis (formerly Fani Willis (D)) Judge: Scott McAfee Court: Fulton County Superior Court
Important datesCase dismissed: Nov. 26, 2025 Arraignment: Waived^[3] Indictment: August 14, 2023
See alsoNoteworthy criminal misconduct in American politics (2023-2024) • Impeachment of Donald Trump, 2021 • Impeachment of Donald Trump, 2019-2020

A federal grand jury charged Former President Donald Trump (R) with 40 criminal counts related to his handling of classified

documents in June and July 2023. Trump pleaded not guilty. This was the first federal indictment of a former U.S. president.^[4]^[5]

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of FloridaJudge Aileen Cannon dismissed the case on July 15, 2024, on the grounds that special counsel Jack Smith‘s appointment violated the Appointments Clause and the Appropriations Clause of the U.S. Constitution.^[6]Smith filed an appeal, but later withdrew the appeal after Trump won the 2024 presidential election.^[7]^[8]

The court unsealed the original indictment on June 9, 2023, which contained 37 criminal counts. A superseding indictment was released on July 27, 2023, and added three additional charges, resulting in a total of forty criminal counts. Thirty-two counts were on the willful retention of national defense information. The other counts included:^[9]^[5]

conspiracy to obstruct justice;
withholding a document or record;
corruptly concealing a document or record;
concealing a document in a federal investigation;
scheme to conceal;
false statements and representations;
attempting to alter, destroy, or conceal evidence; and
compelling another individual to alter, destroy, or conceal evidence.

There were two other defendants in this case. In the superseding indictment, Walt Nauta was charged with eight criminal counts, and Carlos De Oliveira was charged with four criminal counts.

This page contains information about Trump’s federal prosecution regarding the handling of classified documents. For information about his prosecution in the state of New York for falsifying business records, click here, and for information about his federal prosecution regarding interference in the certification of the 2020 presidential election, click here. For more information about Trump’s prosecution in the state of Georgia, click here.

Timeline

The section below provides a timeline of events related to the federal indictment of Trump.

November 26, 2024: The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida dismissed the appeal at Smith’s request after Trump won the 2024 presidential election.
July 17, 2024: Smith filed a notice of appeal.^[10]
July 15, 2024: Judge Aileen Cannondismissed the case, granting a motion to dismiss from Trump’s legal team that argued special counsel Jack Smith‘s appointment violated the Appointments Clause and the Appropriations Clause of the U.S. Constitution.^[6]
May 7, 2024: Judge Aileen Cannonpostponed the trial indefinitely.^[11]
March 14, 2024: Trump attended a hearing regarding motions to dismiss filed by Trump’s legal team.^[12]
February 12, 2024: Trump attended a private hearing regarding whether some classified material could be withheld from discovery.^[13]
July 27, 2023: Smith released a superseding indictment in the case, adding three criminal charges to the indictment.^[5]
July 21, 2023: Cannon set the jury trial start date for May 20, 2024.^[14]
June 13, 2023: Trump pleaded not guilty during his arraignment in U.S. district court in Miami regarding the federal indictment.^[4]Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodmanpresided over the arraignment and bond hearing.^[15]
June 10, 2023: Cannon was assigned as the lead judge on the case.^[16]
June 9, 2023: The indictment against Trump was unsealed. The document contained 37 criminal counts.^[9]
June 8, 2023: Trump announced that he had been indicted by a grand jury in Miami on seven federal criminal charges for his alleged mishandling of classified documents.^[17]
November 18, 2022: Garland appointed Smith as special counsel.^[18]
August 9, 2022: Federal Bureau of Investigation agents executed a search warrant on Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago as part of an investigation into whether Trump brought classified documents there after he left office in January 2021.^[19]
March 2022: The Federal Bureau of Investigation launched an investigation into whether Trump was improperly storing classified materials.^[20]
January 2022: The National Archives and Records Administration notified the United States Department of Justice that it had identified classified national security information among records Trump transferred to NARA.^[20]

Background

In November 2021, the general counsel for the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) requested Trump return approximately two dozen boxes of presidential records that White House counsel Pat A. Cipollone identified as having not been transferred to NARA.^[20] According to the Presidential Records Act of 1978, “Presidential records automatically transfer into the legal custody of the Archivist as soon as the President leaves office.”^[21]Trump transferred 15 boxes of presidential records to NARA in January 2022. NARA identified some returned records as classified national security information.^[22]

Because there were classified materials among the records, NARA notified the United States Department of Justice. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) launched an investigation into the matter in March 2022.^[20]^[23] The FBI subsequently received a subpoena from a federal grand jury to search Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence for improperly stored classified materials. The search took place in August 2022.^[24]^[20]The FBI removed 20 boxes from the residence.^[25]

Following the search, Trump filed a civil lawsuit (Trump v. United States) on August 22, 2022, seeking the appointment of a special master to review the materials confiscated from Mar-a-Lago.^[26] Judge Aileen Cannon granted the request on September 5, 2022.^[27] The Justice Department appealed this ruling to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. The Eleventh Circuit unanimously ruled in favor of the Justice Department, reversing Cannon’s ruling, on December 1, 2022.^[28] Cannon then dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction.^[29]

In November 2022, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed special counsel Jack Smith to investigate allegations that Trump knowingly took classified documents to his home at Mar-a-Lago after he left office and obstructed investigators who attempted to retrieve them. Before this appointment, Smith served as a chief prosecutor for the special court in The Hague, Netherlands, where he investigated war crimes in Kosovo.^[30]

Legal team

As of March 12, 2024, Trump’s defense attorneys in the case were Todd Blanche and Christopher Kise.^[31]^[32]Blanche was an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York from 2006 to 2014. He later worked as counsel at WilmerHale and partner at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP.^[33] Kise has previously worked as Florida’s Solicitor General, as a counselor to former Florida Governor Charlie Crist (D), and as a counselor to Florida Governor Ron DeSantiss(R) transition team.^[34]

Defendants

There were three defendants in this case. The first was former President Donald Trump (R), who was charged with 40 counts related to the mishandling of classified documents. The second was Walt Nauta, an assistant to Trump, who was charged with eight criminal counts. The third was Carlos De Oliveira, the property manager at Mar-a-Lago, who was charged with four criminal counts.