Trump lawyers meet with US special counsel as indictment looms

By Sarah N. Lynch and Jacqueline Thomsen

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) -Donald Trump said his attorneys met on Thursday with U.S. Justice Department officials investigating the Republican former president's attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat, in a sign that another set of criminal charges could come soon.

An official at the federal court in Washington, where the grand jury investigating Trump is sitting, said that no indictments would be handed down on Thursday.

But it is not uncommon for defense attorneys to meet with federal prosecutors before an indictment, as Trump's team did four days before he was charged with mishandling classified documents in a separate case in June.

Trump is the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges and has already been indicted twice this year, once in New York over hush-money payments to a porn star and once already over the classified documents.

The charges have not hurt Trump's standing as the front-runner in the race for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in the 2024 election.

On the contrary, Trump's lead over nearest rival Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has grown. A Reuters/Ipsos poll earlier this month showed Trump leading DeSantis 47%-19% among Republicans, a wider lead than his 44%-29% lead before the first indictment in New York in March.

Trump said on his Truth Social platform that the Department of Justice had not told his attorneys when action was likely.

"My attorneys had a productive meeting with the DOJ this morning, explaining in detail that I did nothing wrong, was advised by many lawyers, and that an Indictment of me would only further destroy our Country," Trump said. "No indication of notice was given during the meeting."

U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith is investigating actions by Trump to try to reverse his loss to Biden in the 2020 election, which Trump persists in falsely claiming was the result of widespread fraud.

Officials have testified that during his final months in office, Trump pressured them with false fraud claims. His supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol in a Jan. 6, 2021, bid to stop Congress from certifying Biden's win.

TRUMP HAS PLEADED NOT GUILTY TO OTHER CHARGES

Trump has sought to portray the many investigations he has faced over his years in politics as politically motivated witch hunts. He denies any wrongdoing.

Trump pleaded not guilty in Miami last month to federal charges of unlawfully retaining the classified government documents after leaving office in 2021 and obstructing justice. Prosecutors accused him of risking some of the most sensitive U.S. national security secrets.

Trump, 77, also pleaded not guilty in the separate case brought by New York prosecutors who accuse him of falsifying business records to conceal a payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she said she had with him.

A Georgia prosecutor is also investigating attempts by Trump and his allies to overturn his defeat in that state to Biden in the 2020 election.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Jacqueline Thomsen, writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Scott Malone and Howard Goller)