Donald Trump may “soon” be indicted in the Department of Justice‘s (DOJ) probe into whether or not he improperly stored classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence, according to former federal prosecutor Cynthia Alksne.
The former president has been accused of improperly removing dozens of classified documents from the White House before leaving office in 2021. Last August, the FBI seized the documents from Mar-a-Lago, turning the investigation public, though many details remain limited. Trump, however, has maintained his innocence.
Trump, who is again running in the 2024 presidential race, is facing several investigations into his conduct as president—including his business dealings and actions surrounding the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot—he is yet to face any formal charges or indictments as investigators work to solidify their cases.
However, Alksne, who works as an MSNBC legal analyst, suggested that could soon change during an appearance on The Katie Phang Show on Saturday. She said she believes the DOJ could indict the former president “soon,” saying she hopes this would happen before the spring.
“Well, I would guess that one is going to come pretty soon. I mean, let’s face it—that’s an easy prosecution,” she said. “You stole the documents. We’re asking for them. We ask you ‘pretty please.’ You said ‘no.’ You lied about it. You move them, and then we found them.”
Alksne said the case could likely be prosecuted “at any time,” but the DOJ still has work to do to craft its strongest argument, including fully identifying obstruction allegedly committed by Trump’s team.
“They also have to figure out, now that they have the documents, were they shared with anybody and what exactly happened with them,” Alksne added. “And that may take some time.”
Gene Rossi, also a former federal prosecutor, told Newsweek on Saturday that while he believes the Mar-a-Lago investigation is the most likely Trump probe to yield an indictment “relatively soon,” he said he’s not sure exactly when that would be.
“Although a mere mortal and average citizen would have been justly charged last summer, I do not believe that the alleged Mar-a-Lago charges will be revealed so quickly after Jack Smith arrived physically in the States. However, those charges will highly likely be presented this year to a grand jury,” Rossi said.
He agreed that the Mar-a-Lago investigation has the potential to be an easy win for prosecutors, adding that Trump handled top secret documents “like a lottery ticket.”
“I think it would be a prosecutor’s dream to present that to a trial jury,” he said. “I think the evidence is very strong about his willfulness, his recklessness and his deliberate ignorance.”
Latest Updates in Trump Mar-a-Lago Investigation
A federal judge sided with the DOJ this week, ordering Trump to turn over the names of private investigators he hired to search for classified documents across his properties, according to a report from The New York Times.
Last month, Trump faced more legal pressure in the case after investigators alleged he was in possession of more classified documents that were found in a Florida storage unit. Former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said at the time that he opened the country to “grave harm” by allegedly not turning over every document.
Trump has said he did not need to go through a formal declassification process and that he could declassify documents by just thinking about it, though experts view this claim as legally dubious.
Newsweek reached out to Alksne and Trump’s office for further comment.
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