Will Trump's Florida indictment give him a home-turf advantage? Why it was filed in Miami

In a historic moment, former president Donald Trump became the first-ever person elected president to be federally indicted after charges were filed Thursday related to the hundreds of classified documents the FBI seized from his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, last August.

Trump was charged with seven counts, one under the Espionage Act and others related to obstruction of justice and removing government records, though legal experts have suggested additional charges including removal and retention of classified documents and false statements are possible.

More than 300 classified documents were recovered more than a year after Trump left the White House, most under subpoena in June 2022 or during an FBI search in August 2022. Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith has been investigating the potential mishandling of national defense records.

Trump confirmed the indictment in a statement and protested his innocence in a post on Truth Social. He said that he was summoned to appear Tuesday at the federal courthouse in Miami at 3 p.m.

Trump indicted: Donald Trump indicted for allegedly mishandling classified documents seized at Mar-a-Lago: Recap

The revelation that the indictment was filed by a grand jury in Miami, where the former president may have a home-turf advantage from a more sympathetic jury pool, rather than in Washington D.C. sparked discussions around the decision.

When presenting cases for indictments, federal prosecutors don’t have the liberty to shop around for venues, according to legal analysis from the Congressional Research Service. In most cases, the U.S. Constitution states that defendants will be prosecuted in the state and district the crime occurs.

Matters become more complicated when crimes occur spanning more than one district, however. Here’s why Trump was charged in Florida and why it matters.

Why was Trump indicted?

Trump is being indicted on seven charges related to the hundreds of classified documents seized from Mar-a-Lago by the FBI in August 2022 after a back-and-forth between the former president and the Department of Justice.

Items found in the search include:

• 31 confidential documents, 54 "secret" documents and 18 "top secret."

• 48 empty folders with classified banners

• 42 folders marked "return to staff secretary/military aide"

• More than 11,000 government documents or pictures without classification markings

• Nearly 1,700 magazines, newspapers or press clippings

• 19 articles of clothing or gift items

• 33 books

Trump has argued repeatedly that he could take the records with him after leaving the White House and that he declassified them. However, the Presidential Records Act gives ownership of the documents to the National Archives and Records Administration, and there is no documentation of Trump declassifying the records.

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What are the charges against Trump?

The FBI search of Mar-a-Lago in August 2022 was for evidence of violations of three federal statutes. The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service described the three statutes under Chapter 18 of the criminal code:

• The Espionage Act: Section 793 is part of the 1917 Espionage Act. The law covers more than spying, applying to information “relating to” or “connected with” national defense. The law doesn’t define what counts as national defense documents. But courts have interpreted the phrase to mean “relating to the military and naval establishments and the related activities of national preparedness,” according to the Supreme Court, and information whose disclosure is “potentially damaging” to the United States, according to lower courts.

• Removing government records: Section 2071 This statute general prohibits willfully and unlawfully concealing, removing, mutilating, obliterating, or destroying a “record,” “paper,” or “document” that is “filed or deposited with any clerk or officer of any court of the United States, or in any public office, or with any judicial or public officer of the United States.” A person convicted under this statute would be disqualified from holding public office. In a case involving Oliver North, a co-conspirator in the Iran-Contra scandal for altering National Security Council documents, a federal court rejected his argument that presidential records were exempt from the statute.

• Obstruction of justice: Section 1519 criminalizes the destruction of evidence in obstruction of certain federal investigations or proceedings. Prosecutors have used it to charge activities undermining investigations such as hiding objects and shredding documents. Violations require four elements: the defendant knowingly altered, destroyed, mutilated, concealed, covered up, falsified, or made false entries; the government must show that the prohibited behavior was done to “any record, document, or tangible object” such as a computer hard drive; the defendant acted with the “intent to impede, obstruct, or influence;” and the government must demonstrate that the defendant sought to obstruct “the investigation or proper administration of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States.”

Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, said he had the right to keep the documents and that he declassified them, although authorities found no documentation to support that claim.

Why was Trump’s indictment filed in Florida?

In cases where someone is charged with a serious federal crime, the U.S. Constitution states that they will be prosecuted in the state and district where the crime occurred.

In Trump’s case, the alleged crimes happened in Washington when the documents were packed and shipped from the White House to Mar-a-Lago. However, the communication between Trump, the National Archives and the DOJ happened at the Palm Beach estate, including the FBI search that lead to the confiscation of hundreds of classified documents and over 11,000 other documents.

Legal analysis from the Congressional Research Service points to Section 3237 of Title 18 in the U.S. Code, which has three general rules for venues in cases that span multiple districts:

• Tax cases may be tried where the taxpayer resides.

• Mail and interstate commerce offenses may be tried in any district traversed during the course of a particular crime.

• Continuous or overlapping offenses may be tried in any district in which they begin, continue or are completed.

Trump’s indictment falls into the third category, which would permit the indictment to be filed in either Washington or Florida. However, filing the lawsuit in Florida gets ahead of the possibility that Trump’s lawyers delay the process by requesting a change of venue for reasons of prejudice as the Sixth Amendment entitles a trial by an impartial jury.

Time is of the essence on both sides. Prosecutors face a potentially shrinking window of time as the former president already has a March 25, 2024, trial date for the criminal case involving 34 felony counts of falsifying business records with the intent to conceal illegal conduct connected to his presidential campaign in 2016. And the possibility that the case could be thrown out if Trump wins reelection in the 2024 presidential election.

Contributors: Bart Jansen and David Jackson — USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Why Trump's Florida indictment was filed in Florida and not Washington