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- An indictment is the formal notification that a grand jury has brought charges against a defendant.
- A grand jury is convened in some criminal cases to decide if prosecutors have enough evidence to go to trial.
- After the indictment is brought, the defendant is formally arraigned on criminal charges.
Donald Trump is now the first former president to have been indicted — not once, not twice, but three times.
On Tuesday, Trump was indicted once again by a federal grand jury, this time over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and the events leading up to the January 6 Capital riot.
A Manhattan grand jury voted to indict Trump on March 30 after hearing evidence for months about his role in what prosecutors described as a hush-money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
With that vote, 76-year-old Trump became the first former US president ever to be indicted on criminal felony charges in American history.
The second case was brought by federal prosecutors led by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who also led the most recent third indictment, in which federal prosecutors allege Trump broke federal laws by engaging in a conspiracy to defraud the government and obstructing an official proceeding by plotting to block Congress from certifying the electoral victory of now-President Joe Biden.
Smith's team also investigated Trump's hoarding of government documents at his private resort in Mar-a-Lago, now accusing him of leaving piles of classified records in a shower and next to a toilet.
Of the 37 counts in the indictment against Trump, 31 fall under the Espionage Act.
So what does it mean to be indicted?
An indictment is a formal notice to a defendant that they have been charged with a crime, according to the US Department of Justice.
In the US, when prosecutors are trying to bring a felony case against a defendant — either on the state or federal level — they may present evidence to a grand jury instead of filing the charges themselves.
In order to be prosecuted on a felony charge in New York, where Trump was first indicted, there has to first be an indictment, unless that right is waived by the defendant, said Mark Bederow, a defense attorney and former prosecutor for the Manhattan district attorney's office.
Waiving that right would be somewhat uncommon, he told Insider.
"An indictment is a finding by a grand jury that there is reasonable cause to believe the target committed a crime," Bederow said.
Before that happens, the grand jury — a secret panel — is convened and then presented with testimony from witnesses and documents collected during a criminal investigation.
After that, the grand jurors are allowed to ask questions. Prosecutors will tell them what charges they're seeking and explain the circumstances around each one.
When that's done, the grand jury will deliberate and then vote on which — if any — charges they will indict.
In the New York case, 16 out of an originally selected 23 grand jurors must be present for a voting quorum, according to the state grand juror's handbook.
From there, a majority of 12 grand jurors must find there is reasonable cause to believe the accused person committed a crime, a standard lower than proof beyond a reasonable doubt, which is necessary to find them guilty.
When the vote is cast, and the charging documents are filled out, the indictment is filed under seal.
Prosecutors will then alert lawyers for the defendant about the indictment and upcoming arraignment.
Depending on the charges, potential flight risk, and danger to the public, the defendant will either be arrested and taken into custody, or allowed to surrender.
Federally, like in Trump's Miami case, all felony charges are also presented to a grand jury for a similar process.
In both cases, Trump voluntarily surrendered himself to authorities.
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Why was Trump indicted?
In New York, Trump was indicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection to the 2016 payment to Daniels.
Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer, pleaded guilty in 2018 to several felonies related to that payment, including tax evasion, bank fraud, and campaign finance violations. The Justice Department said Cohen made the payment himself and was later reimbursed "in monthly installments disguised as payments for legal services performed pursuant to a retainer, when in fact no such retainer existed."
Cohen said he made the payment at Trump's direction, but Trump has denied knowing about the transaction or having the affair with Daniels.
Federally, Trump is accused of taking classified and sensitive documents with him from the White House to his home at Mar-a-Lago, rather than leaving them with the National Archives.
Some of the records included top-secret national security information.
Dozens of Espionage Act charges allege a "willful retention of national defense information." Trump also conspired to obstruct justice, lied to law enforcement, and violated three different laws related to withholding and concealing government records, prosecutors allege in the indictment.
Waltine Nauta, a personal aide for Trump, is a co-defendant in the case.
He worked with Trump to break laws by taking the documents to Mar-a-Lago and lying about it, prosecutors alleged.
The third federal indictment zeroed in on the meetings that Trump had with politicians between December 2020 and January 2021, as he repeatedly and falsely claimed that he had won the election, according to The Washington Post.
His actions as the riot broke out were also being investigated.
The investigation has also probed how much Trump's lawyers coordinated efforts by Republican state electors who tried to confirm Trump as the election winner.