What happens next?

Former US President Donald Trump has been criminally charged for the 2nd clip successful 3 months.

This time, the taxable is his handling of classified files aft helium near the White House. Thousands of documents were seized successful an FBI hunt astatine his Florida property Mar-a-Lago past year, including astir 100 marked arsenic classified.

Legal experts accidental that Mr Trump, who is moving for president again successful 2024, could look situation if convicted of mishandling the documents, oregon of obstructing the probe into whether helium did.

He has repeatedly denied immoderate wrongdoing, and said helium "never thought it imaginable that specified a happening could hap to a erstwhile president of the United States".

Here's what to know, and what to expect next.

On his societal media level Truth Social, Mr Trump said helium has been asked to look astatine a national courthouse successful Miami connected Tuesday 13 June.

The US Secret Service volition beryllium gathering connected Friday with the erstwhile president's unit and the Secret Service officers assigned to him, a instrumentality enforcement authoritative told the BBC's US spouse CBS News.

They volition program Trump's question to tribunal successful Florida, and his quality to beryllium arraigned.

Ahead of the hearing, US Secret Service agents volition execute menace assessments of the national courthouse successful Miami and its surroundings, and enactment with tribunal officers to signifier a information plan.

Before quality of the indictment broke, Carl Tobias, a instrumentality prof astatine the University of Richmond successful Virginia, told the BBC that Mr Trump's apprehension would apt travel a akin signifier to his apprehension successful April connected charges of falsifying concern records successful narration to alleged hush-money payments made to Stormy Daniels.

At the time, Mr Trump handed himself implicit to authorities successful New York and appeared successful tribunal to plead not guilty. He was fingerprinted but helium was not enactment successful handcuffs and did not person a mugshot taken.

Mr Tobias said it was improbable that Mr Trump would beryllium handcuffed oregon person his mugshot taken this time.

"I deliberation unlikely, fixed his stature arsenic a erstwhile president and the slim likelihood that he's a formation risk," Mr Tobias said. "He's going to amusement up to astatine slightest negociate oregon fight... but I don't deliberation they request to usage those types of procedures."

Once Mr Trump's apprehension paperwork is completed, helium volition beryllium considered nether apprehension and successful custody. Once the paperwork is processed, helium would beryllium arraigned - meaning that helium volition perceive the charges and participate a plea successful court.

When Mr Trump near bureau successful January 2021, helium was expected to manus implicit each statesmanlike records, which are considered national property.

It is amerciable for officials, including erstwhile presidents, to region oregon support classified documents astatine an unauthorised, insecure location.

But conscionable months aft Mr Trump near the White House, the US National Archives realised that immoderate records were missing.

These included immoderate of Mr Trump's correspondence with North Korean person Kim Jong-Un and a missive that erstwhile president Barack Obama near for Mr Trump erstwhile helium near office.

The bureau requested the records, and immoderate were handed over.

In August 2022, the justness section searched Mr Trump's Mar-a-Lago property, seizing a further 11,000 documents, immoderate of which were marked arsenic classified oregon apical secret, and immoderate which were marked "TS/SCI", a designation for worldly that could origin "exceptionally grave" harm to US nationalist security.

Other items included a binder of photos, a handwritten note, unspecified accusation astir the president of France, and a clemency missive written connected behalf of long-time Trump state Roger Stone.

Prosecutors are yet to corroborate what nonstop charges Mr Trump is facing. His lawyer Jim Trusty told CNN the erstwhile president had received details of the charges successful a summons document.

He said they included conspiracy, mendacious statements, obstruction of justice, and illegally retaining classified documents nether the Espionage Act.

Several of these are considered superior charges.

Espionage Act violations tin transportation up to 10 years successful prison, portion obstruction of justness - besides a felony - carries a maximum punishment of 20 years.

It is by nary means definite that Mr Trump would beryllium convicted. Some ineligible experts judge it would beryllium hard to beryllium that helium committed a crime.

For the obstruction of justness charges, for example, the instrumentality notes that prosecutors would person to amusement that Mr Trump oregon members of his squad "knowingly" mishandled materials "to impede, obstruct oregon influence" the investigation.

It whitethorn yet beryllium hard to beryllium that Mr Trump knew what was happening. He could besides feasibly reason that his unit mishandled the documents without his consent.

Mr Trump announced his impending indictment connected societal media connected Thursday night. The justness section has yet to comment.

In a bid of Truth Social posts - arsenic good arsenic a video - Mr Trump repeatedly said helium was guiltless and characterised the indictment arsenic "political warfare" against him earlier the 2024 election.

He has utilized a assortment of arguments to support his handling of the documents, including that helium declassified the documents earlier they were discovered. While presidents person antecedently declassified documents directly, determination is nary grounds that Mr Trump did truthful oregon followed immoderate existing procedure.

Mr Trump has besides argued that immoderate of the documents were idiosyncratic and protected by enforcement privilege. This would mean that determination was nary request to crook them implicit to the nationalist archives erstwhile helium near bureau - the precise premise of the case. The statement has mostly been dismissed by ineligible experts.

David Super, a prof astatine Georgetown University Law Center, told the BBC that helium believes Mr Trump's lawyers are apt to reason that the erstwhile president was conscionable a "really atrocious record clerk".

If this were true, Mr Super said that "it beauteous overmuch sinks him due to the fact that that shows that helium knows the things he's been saying successful nationalist are not true".

It is unclear what interaction the caller charges mightiness person connected Mr Trump's popularity with his supporters.

His apprehension successful New York had negligible interaction connected his popularity, and helium remained the wide frontrunner for the Republican statesmanlike information for the 2024 wide election.

From a ineligible standpoint, experts judge that the indictment - oregon adjacent a imaginable condemnation - does not contiguous present an impediment to his bid to go president again.

Under US law, thing prevents an idiosyncratic from from moving for bureau if facing transgression charges.

"It could surely beryllium a occupation for him politically if he's indicted, and certainly, if he's convicted. People whitethorn deliberation doubly astir whether they privation to ballot for him," Mr Tobias said. "But I don't deliberation that volition needfully forestall his participation."

At slightest 2 radical person antecedently tally for president with transgression convictions. In 1920, socialist campaigner Eugene Debs ran for president contempt having been convicted of the Espionage Act successful transportation with a 1918 anti-war speech.

Conspiracist Lyndon LaRouche besides ran for the presidency connected aggregate occasions contempt having been convicted of fraud successful 1988. One of his statesmanlike bids, successful 1992, took spot portion helium was astatine a national situation successful Minnesota.