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Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has already indicted former President Donald Trump, and he may soon be hit with federal charges, too.
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that sources close to the former president believe that he will be charged with mishandling classified documents as special counsel Jack Smith, who U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed, is wrapping up his probe.
The outlet noted:
Some of Trump’s close associates are bracing for his indictment and anticipate being able to fundraise off a prosecution, people in the former president’s circle said, as clashes within the Trump legal team have led to the departure of a key lawyer.
In recent weeks prosecutors working for Smith have completed interviews with nearly every employee at Trump’s Florida home, from top political aides to maids and maintenance staff, the people said. Prosecutors have pressed witnesses—some in multiple rounds of testimony—on questions that appeared to home in on specific elements Smith’s team would need to show to prove a crime, including those that speak to Trump’s intentions, and questions aimed at undermining potential defenses Trump could raise, they said.
The special counsel team conducted a flurry of grand jury interviews in recent weeks that appeared to tie up loose ends, the people said.
The outlet said it wasn’t clear whether Smith had actually determined to recommend charging Trump. If he does, Attorney General Merrick Garland will make the decision on whether or not to allow them to be filed.
Garland has also appointed a separate special counsel to look into allegations that President Joe Biden was also improperly in possession of classified documents.
Trump has dismissed the cases against him as witch hunts.
In Manhattan, he faces 34 counts related to alleged hush-money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels. The judge in that case, Juan Merchan, upset the former president during a virtual appearance in his court on Tuesday when he set a trial date for March 2024, which is in the middle of the primary season.
