Trump indictment live updates: Charges include violation of Espionage Act

Former Vice President Mike Pence was slated to appear on the Fox News show “Hannity” on Thursday night to talk about his recently announced candidacy for president.

However, the indictment of Pence’s former boss, Donald Trump, quickly seized the spotlight.

Because of that, Pence’s and Sean Hannity’s respective teams decided to reschedule, NBC News reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.

–Mike Calia

The section of the government court website where Trump’s indictment will likely be posted has crashed.

The website PACER, short for Public Access to Court Electronic Records, allows users to search for records and docket information from federal district, appellate and bankruptcy court cases.

The page for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida has been unable to load since shortly after Trump announced his federal indictment.

— Kevin Breuninger

The Espionage Act was passed shortly after the United States entered World War I in an attempt to crack down on wartime dissent.

It criminalized the collection of certain military information and the sharing of sensitive information with those who lacked the appropriate clearances. Many portions of it are still law.

Now Donald Trump is accused of violating it, according to his attorney James Trusty.

The law has been used in several prominent cases in the past decade, including when the U.S. charged former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange for leaking sensitive documents.

The Department of Justice cited the act in the search warrant it used to search Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home for classified documents.

— Michele Luhn

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump’s top rival in the Republican presidential primary, defended Trump as he claimed federal law enforcement has been “weaponized” for political purposes.

“We have for years witnessed an uneven application of the law depending upon political affiliation,” DeSantis tweeted.

“Why so zealous in pursuing Trump yet so passive about Hillary or Hunter?” he wrote, referencing Trump’s 2016 presidential opponent, Hillary Clinton, and President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden. Hunter Biden is also the subject of a federal criminal probe.

DeSantis once touted his close relationship with Trump, but he has since become a major target of the former president’s ire. The governor has mostly avoided striking back at Trump by name on the campaign trail, though he has increasingly pushed back on the front-runner’s attacks.

“The DeSantis administration will bring accountability to the DOJ, excise political bias and end weaponization once and for all,” DeSantis tweeted.

— Kevin Breuninger

Twitter owner Elon Musk suggested that there was “higher interest” in the indictment of former President Donald Trump compared to “other” people in politics, whom he didn’t name. The suggestion was made in response to a tweet from a pro-Trump user.

David Sacks, a venture capitalist, Twitter advisor and close associate of Musk’s, weighed in shortly after, comparing Trump’s indictment to the allegations from federal officials that President Joe Biden had kept government documents in the garage of his Delaware home.

Musk has courted prominent figures in right-wing politics and media. Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson has started a Twitter show on Musk’s platform. The billionaire also hosted presidential candidate and Trump competitor Ron DeSantis’ Twitter campaign launch, which was plagued with errors and technical challenges.

CNBC has previously reported on Sacks’ relationship with DeSantis and prominent Republican donors.

— Rohan Goswami

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said Trump put U.S. national security in “grave danger” by pursuing “yet another lawless personal agenda,” in a statement Thursday.

Raskin, the ranking member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, urged Republicans to respect the outcome of the special counsel’s “comprehensive investigation.”

“We must ensure that federal officials preserve our country’s records in a way that is consistent with law and that safeguards our national interests,” said Raskin, who was on the House’s Jan. 6 commission.

New York Democrat Jerry Nadler, the ranking member of the House Judiciary committee, said in a tweet Thursday that “no man is above the law.”

“He will have his day in court, in Miami and Manhattan and Atlanta too if it comes to it,” he said.

— Ashley Capoot

In the nearly seven months since Trump launched his 2024 presidential bid, the legal threats looming over him have grown immensely — but so has his lead in the Republican primary.

In April, Manhattan prosecutors charged Trump with dozens of counts of falsifying business records related to hush money payments made to two women who alleged he had affairs with them. Trump is also embroiled in a Georgia prosecutor’s investigation of potential interference in her state’s 2020 election, and he faces a range of civil claims in multiple courts.

Yet many public opinion surveys of the GOP primary field show Trump’s lead expanding, while his nearest competitor, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, has seen a slump in the polls.

It’s far from clear how the unprecedented federal indictment of a former president will play out on the campaign trail, which is still months away from the first primary contests.

— Kevin Breuninger

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he stands with Trump in a statement posted to his Twitter account and pledged that House Republicans would “hold this brazen weaponization of power accountable.”

“Today is indeed a dark day for the United States of America,” the California Republican wrote. “It is unconscionable for a President to indict the leading candidate opposing him.”

McCarthy also accused President Joe Biden of keeping documents classified “for decades.” The Justice Department has appointed a different special counsel to look into the Biden documents matter.

— Michele Luhn

The White House had no advance notice of Trump’s indictment in the special counsel probe, an official told NBC News.

The White House learned of the charges against the former president from public media reports, the official told NBC.

Trump and his allies have accused President Joe Biden of weaponizing the Justice Department against his predecessor.

— Kevin Breuninger

It’s unclear how voters will react to the news of Trump’s indictment, but a recent poll touched on the question.

More than 60% of people surveyed in a Yahoo-YouGov poll conducted in late May said the act of “taking highly classified documents from the White House and obstructing efforts to retrieve them” is a serious crime.

The same poll showed that 62% of Americans agreed Trump shouldn’t be allowed to serve as president if he’s convicted of a “serious crime.”

Nonetheless, the announcement in April that the former president had been indicted in New York on charges alleging falsification of business documents prompted Republicans to rally behind Trump, and he remains the leading candidate in the GOP primary.

— Michele Luhn

In April, Donald Trump became the first ex-president in U.S. history to be arrested and arraigned on criminal charges. But that previous case was brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg — and was not a federal case.

Bragg had obtained a grand jury indictment charging the ex-president with 34 counts of falsifying business records related to his alleged role in a scheme that directed hush money payments to two women during the 2016 election.

Trump pleaded not guilty in that case.

Thursday’s charges make him the first U.S. president ever to be indicted on federal criminal charges.

Other investigations into Trump include the special counsel’s Jan. 6 probe and a separate state inquiry by prosecutor Fani Willis into possible interference by Trump and his allies in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. He also faces a New York civil case brought by state Attorney General Letitia James alleging widespread business fraud.

— Michele Luhn

Some of the charges against Trump include making false statements, conspiracy to obstruct and willfully retaining documents in violation of the Espionage Act, sources confirmed to NBC News on Thursday.

The counts carry a penalty of up to 20 years in prison if Trump is convicted, though a resulting sentence would likely be less due to federal sentencing guidelines.

–Ashley Capoot

Trump’s criminal case could move quickly through federal court in Miami, which in recent years has been part of one of the nation’s fastest civil trial courts.

That’s because the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida was the third-fastest civil trial court of the 94 federal district courts in 2021, according to Law360, which cited data from the U.S. Courts’ Caseload Statistics Data Tables page. Federal courts can hear civil and criminal cases.

The data puts it in contention with the Eastern District of Virginia, which has long been dubbed the “rocket docket.” In 2021, the Northern District of Florida had the fastest median civil trial time, while the Eastern District of Virginia came second.

However, Trump’s case could be more complicated given that he’s a former president in the midst of an election campaign.

— Kevin Breuninger

Sen. Tim Scott, another Republican presidential hopeful, said he has not spoken to Trump yet but will “continue to pray for our nation” after the news of his indictment. 

“Every person is presumed innocent, not guilty, and what we’ve seen over the last several years is the weaponization of the Department of Justice against the former president,” Scott said Thursday during an interview on Fox News.

–Ashley Capoot

Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of two Republicans who appeared on the Jan. 6 committee that investigated the 2021 insurrection at the Capitol, wrote in a tweet Thursday that Trump is “a criminal not a victim.”

Kinzinger said Trump is “corrupt” and that he will try to claim the indictment is a “witch-hunt.”

“If in fact he was the victim (he’s not) he would be one of the weakest men ever, since he just continually gets victimized and can’t stop it,” he wrote.

— Ashley Capoot

Mary Trump, who wrote a damning tell-all book about her uncle and then sued him and other family members in a lawsuit alleging fraud, taunted her relative after news of his federal indictment.

Mary Trump posted a picture on Twitter of Hillary Clinton, whom Trump defeated in the 2016 presidential election, bearing an unimpressed expression and resting her head on her hand.

“For those of you keeping score at home: ZERO indictments / ZERO counts,” the former president’s niece tweeted.

— Kevin Breuninger

Former New Jersey governor and current Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie advised people to wait for more information before making judgments about Trump’s indictment.

“We don’t get our news from Trump’s Truth Social account. Let’s see what the facts are when any possible indictment is released,” Christie said in a tweet.

“As I have said before, no one is above the law, no matter how much they wish they were,” said Christie, a former federal prosecutor and onetime close Trump ally who has since become one of his most vocal Republican critics.

“We will have more to say when the facts are revealed,” he said.

— Michele Luhn and Kevin Breuninger

The federal probe into the classified documents at Mar-a-Lago was led by Jack Smith, a former chief prosecutor at The Hague.

Smith was tapped by Attorney General Merrick Garland last November to serve as special counsel overseeing Trump-related criminal probes into the classified documents and the events surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot.

Upon taking up the role of special counsel, Smith resigned from his job at The Hague investigating and adjudicating war crimes in Kosovo, Garland said in his announcement.

Smith’s career as a prosecutor began in the New York County District Attorney’s Office in the 1990s. He became an assistant U.S. attorney in New York in 1999. In 2008, he worked at The Hague overseeing war crime prosecutions. From 2010 to 2015, he headed the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity section.

He also competes in Ironman triathlon races, Reuters reported.

— Kevin Breuninger

Former President Donald Trump has been indicted on seven counts, his attorney John Rowley confirmed to NBC News. 

The specific nature of the charges remains unknown, as the indictment remains sealed.

— Ashley Capoot

Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy called Trump’s indictment “an affront to every citizen” in a statement Thursday.

“We cannot devolve into a banana republic where the party in power uses police force to arrest its political opponents,” said Ramaswamy, whose bid for the White House is considered a long shot.

He pledged to pardon Trump in January 2025 if he’s elected.

— Ashley Capoot

Trump posted a four-minute video of himself ripping his political foes and accusing those responsible for his latest indictment of trying to interfere with the 2024 presidential election.

“They figured the way they’re going to stop us is by using what’s called warfare. And that’s what it is, this is warfare for the law, and we can’t let it happen,” Trump said in the video posted from his Truth Social account.

“We can’t let this continue to go on because it’s ripping our country to shreds,” Trump said.

He claimed the federal indictment was a “hoax,” likening it to a bevy of other investigations, scandals and impeachment efforts that have swirled around the president over the course of his political career.

“It’s just a continuation — seven years, even after I’m out,” he said.

— Kevin Breuninger

The Trump campaign wasted no time attempting to leverage the former president’s indictment as a fundraising opportunity.

“We are watching our Republic DIE before our very eyes,” read a fundraising message attributed to Trump.

The message decries the “Deep State” aiming to “take us down,” before asking for contributions — with suggested amounts of $24, $47, $75, $100 or $250 — in order to “prove that YOU will NEVER surrender our country to the radical left.”

— Kevin Breuninger

The White House told NBC’s Kristen Welker it will not comment on Trump’s indictment.

— Ashley Capoot

Former President Donald Trump was quick to proclaim his innocence and tar his prosecutors as politically corrupt as he revealed that he has been indicted on charges related to the classified documents he kept after leaving office.

“I AM AN INNOCENT MAN,” Trump declared in a three-part social media post on his platform Truth Social.

“This is indeed a DARK DAY for the United States of America,” Trump wrote. “We are a Country in serious and rapid Decline, but together we will Make America Great Again!”

— Kevin Breuninger