Trump’s legal team meets with special counsel as federal indictment looms

CNN/Stylemagazine.com Newswire | 7/27/2023, 9:42 a.m.
Donald Trump’s legal team is meeting Thursday with special counsel Jack Smith on Thursday as a potential federal indictment looms, …
Donald Trump’s legal team is seeking a meeting with special counsel Jack Smith on Thursday. Trump is pictured here in March in Maryland. Mandatory Credit: Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times/Redux

Originally Published: 27 JUL 23 10:16 ET

Updated: 27 JUL 23 10:37 ET

By Evan Perez, Jamie Gangel, Kaitlan Collins and Katelyn Polantz, CNN

(CNN) — Donald Trump’s legal team is meeting Thursday with special counsel Jack Smith on Thursday as a potential federal indictment looms, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell CNN.

Since receiving a letter from Smith indicating he’s a target of the investigation earlier this month, Trump had argued against a meeting between his attorneys and Smith’s team because the former president believed the indictment was already a done deal, two sources familiar with his thinking said.

The grand jury hearing evidence from the special counsel’s probe into efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election is sitting Thursday at the federal courthouse in Washington, DC.

CNN spotted jurors and a prosecutor working for Smith entering the courthouse this morning. The grand jury, which normally meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays, had not been seen inside the federal courthouse since last week.

CNN has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.

This is the second time Trump is facing potential charges brought by Smith’s team. Before Trump was charged in Florida in Smith’s probe into the mishandling of classified documents from his White House, he also was notified by prosecutors that he was a target of that investigation.

Prosecutors aren’t required to give investigatory targets such a warning. Around the time Trump was given the heads up about the potential classified documents charges against him, his lawyers also met in early June with prosecutors for Smith’s team. The classified documents indictment was brought against him later that month.

This story is breaking and will be updated.