So I guess the rumors were true. Trump just announced on Truth Social that he has been indicted. Maggie Haberman posted this on Twitter.

Trump announces on Truth he’s been indicted

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) June 8, 2023

Trump’s statement was pasted after that but she deleted it for some reason. It’s in three pages. Page one reads: “The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax, even though Joe Biden had 1859 Boxes at the University of Delaware, additional Boxes in Chinatown, D.C., with even more Boxes at the University of Pennsylvania and documents strewn all over his garage floor where he parks his Corvette, and which is “secured” by only a garage door that is paper thin, and open much of the time.”

You can see page 2 here:

More Trump on his indictment: https://t.co/Q1Uw20OJ8J pic.twitter.com/QmwamdCJfB

— Byron York (@ByronYork) June 8, 2023

More Trump on indictment: https://t.co/1W3sKi9qGQ pic.twitter.com/qobIlXhxT2

— Byron York (@ByronYork) June 8, 2023

Yesterday there were multiple reports that Trump would be indicted as soon as today. However, it was expected that any indictment might remain sealed for up to a week which meant that we wouldn’t know it had happened unless it leaked. According to NBC News the indictment was under seal:

A spokesperson for the special counsel declined to comment.

A source familiar says the indictment is under seal, which is why the government cannot comment.

Trump probably knew it was going to leak and just decided to do it himself. Reports yesterday said Trump would be indicted in Florida under Section 793 of the US Criminal Code:

…prosecutors are ready to ask grand jurors to approve an indictment against Mr Trump for violating a portion of the US criminal code known as Section 793, which prohibits “gathering, transmitting or losing” any “information respecting the national defence”.

The use of Section 793, which does not make reference to classified information, is understood to be a strategic decision by prosecutors that has been made to short-circuit Mr Trump’s ability to claim that he used his authority as president to declassify documents he removed from the White House and kept at his Palm Beach, Florida property long after his term expired on 20 January 2021.

We don’t have the details yet but Fox News reports there are at least 7 counts and also has a reminder what this is all about.

Trump facing at least seven federal counts related to document handling and obstruction of justice. He has been ordered to appear in federal court in Miami on Tuesday…

NARA told Congress in February 2022 that Trump took 15 boxes of presidential records to his personal residence in Florida. NARA recovered the 15 boxes from Mar-a-Lago and “identified items marked as classified national security information within the boxes.” The matter was referred to the Justice Department by NARA…

According to the property receipt from the Aug. 8, 2022 FBI raid, FBI agents took approximately 20 boxes of items from the premises, including one set of documents marked as “Various classified/TS/SCI documents,” which refers to top secret/sensitive compartmented information…

The property receipt also showed that FBI agents collected four sets of top secret documents, three sets of secret documents and three sets of confidential documents, but the document does not reveal any details about any of those records.

So it sounds like Trump will appear in court next week unless something changes. This is the second indictment this year. DA Alvin Bragg indicted Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records in April. The NY Times is pointing out the federal charges are a first.

The indictment, filed in Federal District Court in Miami, is the first time in American history a former president has faced federal charges. It puts the nation in an extraordinary position, given Mr. Trump’s status not only as a onetime chief executive but also as the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination to face President Biden, whose administration will now be seeking to convict his potential rival.

Hard to see how this can be perceived as non-partisan under the circumstances. Even if everyone’s motives are pure (doubtful to start with) this just looks bad. I don’t think the DOJ is doing itself any favors. They probably are helping Trump though. He’s likely to raise a lot of money this weekend.