Here is a timeline of events that led to charges against former US President Donald Trump and others over government records, some marked as highly sensitive, stored at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after he left the White House in January 2021:
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FEBRUARY 9, 2022:
* The National Archives and Records Administration asks the US Justice Department to investigate Trump's handling of government records, after Trump returned boxes of government documents stored at Mar-a-Lago that included classified materials
AUGUST 8, 2022:
* Trump discloses that FBI agents searched Mar-a-Lago and broke into a safe in what one of Trump's sons said was part of a federal investigation into retention of records
AUGUST 12, 2022:
* The court-approved warrant behind the August 8 search is released, showing 11 sets of classified documents were taken from Trump's property and that the Justice Department has probable cause to believe there were possible violations of the Espionage Act which makes it a crime to release information that could harm national security
AUGUST 22, 2022:
* Trump sues to block the Justice Department from reviewing materials seized from his home until a third-party arbiter, known as a special master, is assigned to make sure privileged documents are not improperly accessed
AUGUST 26, 2022:
* DOJ releases the heavily redacted affidavit behind the warrant for the search of Trump's property, disclosing it believed the former president illegally possessed documents including some involving intelligence-gathering and clandestine human sources
* The affidavit also says there were "a significant number of civilian witnesses" assisting in the probe and the department believed there also was evidence of obstruction
SEPTEMBER 6, 2022:
* US District Judge Aileen Cannon grants Trump's request for a special master over DOJ objections, an action that delays the investigation
* Senior US District Judge Raymond Dearie of Brooklyn is named to run that third-party review
SEPTEMBER 15, 2022:
* The Justice Department seeks to access the classified materials taken in the search
* Cannon rejects the bid but the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals later allows DOJ to review the documents
NOVEMBER 16, 2022:
* Trump announces he will run for the Republican nomination in the 2024 US presidential election
NOVEMBER 20, 2022:
* US Attorney General Merrick Garland appoints US Special Counsel Jack Smith to preside over criminal matters relating to Trump, including the classified documents investigation
DECEMBER. 1, 2022:
* A federal appeals court reverses Cannon's appointment of a special master in the case, finding she lacked the authority to appoint one
* The ruling gives the Justice Department access to all materials seized in the search of Trump's property
DECEMBER 7, 2022:
* At least two classified records are found during a further search of Trump's properties, a source says
DECEMBER 2022:
* Trump lawyer Tim Parlatore appears before a federal grand jury in Washington to describe efforts to search Trump properties for any remaining government documents
MARCH 24, 2023:
* Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran appears before a federal grand jury in Washington after a federal judge finds Smith's team made a sufficient showing that Trump might have deceived his lawyers in furtherance of a crime
MAY 17, 2023:
* Parlatore confirms he has left Trump's legal team, telling CNN he exited over disagreements with others over handling of the probe and claiming Trump aide Boris Epshteyn prevented lawyers from properly defending the former president
* A Trump representative denies the claims
JUNE 8, 2023:
* Trump writes on social media that the Biden administration has informed his lawyers he has been indicted and summoned to appear at the federal courthouse in Miami on Tuesday.
Australian Associated Press
