Here is a timeline of events that led to charges against former U.S. 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:
Feb. 9, 2022: The National Archives and Records Administration asks the U.S. 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.
Aug. 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.
Sept. 6, 2022: U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon grants Trump's request for a special master over DOJ objections, an action that delays the investigation. Senior U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie of Brooklyn is later named to run that third-party review.
Sept. 15, 2022: The Justice Department seeks to access the classified materials taken in the search. Cannon rejects the bid, but the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later allows DOJ to review the documents.
Nov. 16, 2022: Trump announces he will run for the Republican nomination in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
Nov. 20, 2022: U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland appoints U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith to preside over criminal matters relating to Trump, including the classified documents investigation.
Dec. 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.
Dec. 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 may have deceived his attorneys in furtherance of a crime.
June 8, 2023: Trump writes on social media that the Biden administration has informed his attorneys that he has been indicted, and that he has been summoned to appear at the federal courthouse in Miami on June 13.
