Reports Trump notified he is target of documents probe

Federal prosecutors have informed former US President Donald Trump that he is the target of an investigation into his handling of classified documents after he left office, according to US media.

Prosecutors sent Trump a letter telling him he was under investigation, Politico reported.

Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.

The Department of Justice usually notifies people when they become the target of an investigation to give them the opportunity to present their own evidence before a grand jury.

This does not necessarily mean that Trump will be indicted.

News of the notification to Trump’s legal team emerged just two days after his attorneys met with Justice Department officials to discuss the case.

A federal grand jury has investigated Trump’s withholding of classified documents after he left the White House in 2021.

A second criminal investigation is examining alleged efforts by Trump and his allies to reverse his 2020 election loss to Democratic President Joe Biden.

A representative for Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the investigations, declined to comment.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump’s attorneys could not be reached for comment.

In August 2022, investigators seized approximately 13,000 documents from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

About 100 of them were marked as classified, even though one of Trump’s lawyers had previously said that all files bearing classified marks had been referred to the government.

Trump has previously defended his retention of documents, suggesting he declassified them while president.

However, Trump has not provided evidence of this, and his lawyers have refused to make this argument in court filings.