About 5 p.m., reporters observed a prosecutor with special counsel Jack Smith's office and the foreperson of a grand jury that has been active for many months examining the events surrounding Jan. 6 deliver the indictment to a magistrate judge in federal court in Washington, D.C.
No official announcement has been made by the Justice Department, and it was not immediately clear how long it would take for the indictment to be unsealed.
That grand jury panel gathered Tuesday, and left the courthouse in the afternoon. The indictment is the first known charge or charges to be filed in the special counsel probe of the machinations that led up to the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol, and its aftermath.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Moxila A. Upadhyaya accepted the grand jury return, saying, "I do have one indictment return before me, and I have reviewed the paperwork in connection with this indictment."
The indictment could mark a major new phase in Smith's investigation of the former president and his aides and allies, coming nearly two months after Trump and his longtime valet were indicted for
allegedly mishandling classified documents and scheming to prevent government officials from retrieving them.
