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UPDATE (July 27, 2023, 1:40 p.m. ET): This post has been updated with Donald Trump's post on Truth Social denying that special counsel Jack Smith's team told Trump's attorneys on Thursday morning to expect an indictment.
On June 5, Donald Trump’s lawyers attended a Justice Department meeting with special counsel Jack Smith and other prosecutors. The topic of the discussion was the criminal investigation into the former president’s classified documents scandal, and it was at this meeting that Justice Department officials notified Trump’s attorneys that their client should expect to be indicted.
The Republican, true to form, threw a tantrum online, but this did not prevent what was coming: Three days after the meeting, Trump was charged.
That was seven weeks ago. On Thursday morning, as NBC News reported, there was a similar meeting — resulting in a similar message.
Trump’s attorneys Todd Blanche and John Lauro [met Thursday morning] with prosecutors in Smith’s office, according to three sources. The lawyers were told to expect an indictment, two sources said.
This comes just nine days after Trump publicly confirmed receiving a target letter from prosecutors, which, among other things, offered the suspect an opportunity to appear before the grand jury. (He did not take advantage of that opportunity.)
As of this writing, the former president has not reacted publicly to the notification his legal team received Thursday morning, though if recent history is any guide, the public can expect some all-caps harangues to be published to Trump’s social media platform fairly soon. [Update: See below.]
Given the circumstances, it seems entirely fair to say we’ve moved past the question of whether the Republican will face another federal indictment; it’s now more a question of when and what he’ll be charged with.
Indeed, by all accounts, that’s precisely how Team Trump itself is approaching the matter. A separate NBC News report added that the former president’s legal and political operations are preparing for the likelihood of an indictment — possibly as early as Thursday.
The report added, “The target letter mentioned three federal statutes related to the deprivation of rights, conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and tampering with a witness, two attorneys with direct knowledge of the document have said.”
As for the grand jury, it’s been confirmed that its members arrived at the courthouse in Washington, D.C., on Thursday morning, and were seeing headed to the grand jury area on the third floor.
Or put another way, observers might not have to wait too much longer for the news. Watch this space.
Update: By way of his social media platform, the former president responded to the latest developments by claiming, "My attorneys had a productive meeting with the DOJ this morning, explaining in detail that I did nothing wrong, was advised by many lawyers, and that an Indictment of me would only further destroy our Country. No indication of notice was given during the meeting — Do not trust the Fake News on anything!"
In case this isn't obvious, Trump's lawyers might've tried to "explain" his position, but there's no reason to assume federal prosecutors were persuaded by the claims.