Federal prosecutors charged Donald Trump in 2023 with keeping national defense information at Mar-a-Lago after his first term and with obstructing efforts to recover it, and later charged two of his employees. Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the case in July 2024, ruling that the special counsel was unlawfully appointed, and the government dropped its appeals after the 2024 election. A dispute over releasing the special counsel's report on the case continues.
17 January 2022 to today · 30 dated events · 18 sources
Where it stands now · as of 1 November 2026
The criminal case is over. The charges were dismissed in July 2024 and the government's appeals were dropped, as to Trump in November 2024 and as to Nauta and De Oliveira in February 2025. Volume Two of the special counsel's report remains barred from release under a February 2026 order. The Eleventh Circuit partly granted a request to postpone the 2 November 2026 argument in the appeals by the Knight Institute and American Oversight, and no new argument date has been set.
Overview · 17 Jan 2022 to 13 Oct 2026 · click a dot to jump
2022
17 Jan 2022
Start
Fifteen boxes go from Mar-a-Lago to the National Archives
The indictment says Trump provided 15 boxes to the National Archives and Records Administration on 17 January 2022 and that they held 197 documents with classification markings. The Eleventh Circuit described the transfer as following months of discussions with the Archives.
Trump's attorney gave the FBI 38 further documents with classification markings in response to the subpoena. Prosecutors later alleged in the indictment that a custodian certification given the same day falsely stated that a diligent search had been made.
The superseding indictment says the Justice Department emailed a draft grand jury subpoena for Mar-a-Lago security footage on 22 June 2022 and the final subpoena on 24 June. Prosecutors alleged that De Oliveira told an IT employee on 27 June that the boss wanted the server deleted.
The FBI executed a search warrant issued by a magistrate judge and recovered 102 documents with classification markings from Trump's office and a storage room, according to the indictment. The Eleventh Circuit described the haul as over one hundred marked documents.
After Trump filed a civil action over the search, Judge Aileen Cannon ordered a special master appointed and barred the government from using the seized records pending the review. The government appealed three days later.
Appeals court lets investigators use the classified records
The Eleventh Circuit granted a partial stay covering the documents with classification markings, concluding that the district court likely lacked jurisdiction over them. The Supreme Court denied Trump's application for relief on 13 October 2022.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Jack Smith as special counsel by Order No. 5559-2022, according to the Justice Department's special counsel page.
The Eleventh Circuit vacated the special master order and told the district court to dismiss Trump's civil action, holding that it had no basis to intervene in the investigation.
“The district court improperly exercised equitable jurisdiction in this case.”US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (via Justia)
A grand jury in the Southern District of Florida returned a 38-count indictment. It charged Trump with 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information and with obstruction and false statement counts, and charged his aide Waltine Nauta with six obstruction and false statement counts. Both were presumed innocent.
A lawyer entered a not guilty plea for Trump to all 37 counts against him at an arraignment before a federal magistrate judge, AP reported. Nauta did not enter a plea that day because he lacked a local lawyer.
Superseding indictment adds De Oliveira and new counts
A superseding indictment brought the case to 42 counts. Trump faced 40, including a 32nd retention count and two new obstruction counts tied to the alleged effort to delete security footage. Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira was charged with four counts. All three were presumed innocent.
Judge Cannon cancelled the 20 May trial date without setting a new one, AP reported, saying it would be imprudent to fix a date while pretrial issues remained unresolved.
In a 93-page order, Judge Cannon granted Trump's motion and dismissed the superseding indictment, ruling that Smith's appointment violated the Appointments Clause. She also found that his funding violated the Appropriations Clause but said she did not need to decide a remedy for it.
“The Superseding Indictment is DISMISSED because Special Counsel Smith's appointment violates the Appointments Clause”Judge Aileen M. Cannon, US District Court, S.D. Fla. (via CourtListener RECAP)
Special counsel moves to drop the appeal as to Trump
After Trump won the November 2024 presidential election, Smith asked the Eleventh Circuit to dismiss the appeal as to Trump, citing the Justice Department's policy against prosecuting a sitting president, AFP reported. The appeal as to Nauta and De Oliveira continued.
The Eleventh Circuit granted the request without comment, AFP reported, ending the case against Trump. The charges were never tried and no court ruled on whether he was guilty.
Judge Cannon had temporarily barred the Justice Department from releasing Volume One, on the election case, outside the department until midnight on 14 January, Attorney General Garland told Congress. A temporary injunction on Volume Two, on this case, remained in place.
Garland withholds Volume Two while co-defendants' case is pending
Garland told the House and Senate Judiciary Committees that Volume Two should not be made public while the cases against Nauta and De Oliveira continued, and offered committee leaders a private review if the court allowed it.
“should not be made public so long as those defendants' criminal proceedings are ongoing”Attorney General Merrick Garland, US Department of Justice
An order of 21 January 2025 barred the Justice Department from releasing Volume Two, including to members of Congress, according to later filings by the Knight First Amendment Institute, American Oversight and a group of senators, which call it an injunction.
Justice Department moves to drop the co-defendants' appeal
Prosecutors asked the Eleventh Circuit to dismiss the appeal concerning Nauta and De Oliveira with prejudice, and their lawyers did not object, AP reported. AP said the move formally ended the case against both men.
The Eleventh Circuit dismissed the criminal appeal, according to the intervenors' February 2026 motion. The charges against all three defendants therefore stand dismissed with no trial.
American Oversight filed a mandamus petition in the Eleventh Circuit, No. 25-13400, asking for the order on Volume Two to be lifted, according to the groups' later motion. The Knight Institute filed its own petition the same day, and on 3 November 2025 the appeals court issued an order finding undue delay by the district court, according to the institute's case page.
Judge Cannon denied motions by the Knight Institute and American Oversight to intervene, and ordered that the injunction on Volume Two would expire on 24 February 2026 unless the court ordered otherwise. Both groups filed notices of appeal later in December.
Trump moved for a permanent injunction against release of Volume Two and its drafts. The United States agreed on 23 January that the volume should not be released outside the Justice Department, and Nauta and De Oliveira asked on 30 January for all copies to be destroyed, according to the intervenors' motion.
Judge Cannon permanently barred the Justice Department from releasing Volume Two but rejected the request to destroy all copies, The New York Times reported. Fox News also reported the permanent bar. The Times said she called the drafting of the report after her dismissal a brazen stratagem and said release would cause irreparable damage to the former defendants.
“brazen stratagem”Judge Aileen M. Cannon, as quoted by The New York Times, The New York Times (via The Boston Globe)
A group of US senators filed an amicus brief in the Knight Institute and American Oversight appeals, Nos. 25-14507 and 26-10674, which challenge the December 2025 and February 2026 orders.
The Eleventh Circuit set oral argument in the Volume Two appeals for 2 November 2026, the Knight Institute said. On 5 October Trump and his former co-defendants asked to postpone it to January 2027 or later, which the groups opposed.
The Eleventh Circuit issued an order partially granting the motion to continue the 2 November argument, according to the Knight Institute's case page, which lists the appeals as awaiting a new argument date. The groups moved on 29 October for an argument date to be set.
Last updated 1 November 2026. Spotted an error? See corrections. Every event links to the record it comes from. Allegations are attributed to whoever made them.
US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (vi
