By Natalia Rueda 
Donald Trump, the former US president, is in hot water again. On Thursday, he announced that he had been indicted for allegedly withholding hundreds of classified documents from the White House when they were transferred to his Mar-a-Lago residence and private club in Florida.
Trump, who made the announcement on his own social media site Truth Social, accused his successor Joe Biden of withholding far more documents and declared himself an “innocent man.” He also noted that he had been informed of the charges against him by his lawyers and would be making an appearance in a federal court in Miami next Tuesday at 3 PM.
The investigation into Trump’s activities was launched last year when he resisted documents requests from the National Archives. After negotiations, the FBI served a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago and came away with 103 documents. Witnesses testified that Trump or his aides had tried to prevent the turnover of some of the documents.
Trump is facing seven counts from the investigation, including obstruction of justice, false testimony, and conspiracy to withhold documents. His lawyer Alina Habba called the investigation “absolutely a persecution,” comparable to the kinds of proceedings seen in Russia or other Third World countries.
This indictment will be the first ever federal charges levelled against a former US president. Trump was also previously charged on 34 misdemeanor counts related to falsifying financial documents by New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg in April.
Trump still has loyal supporters, but his judicial troubles have made him a controversial figure. It remains to be seen what will come of this case, but one thing is certain—the former president is in for another legal battle.