Former President Donald Trump was indicted for an unprecedented third time on August 1, adding another set of serious federal charges to the mounting legal issues he faces.

Trump was indicted as part of the Department of Justiceā€™s criminal investigation, led by special counsel Jack Smith, into the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol. The indictment marks the second time Trump has faced federal charges, and he remains the only president to have been federally indicted.

The indictment is the product of a months-long investigation in which Smithā€™s team questioned several high-profile members of Trumpā€™s circle, including his son-in-law Jared Kushner and former White House communications director Hope Hicks. It follows the House January 6th committeeā€™s investigation last year, which concluded that Trump incited the insurrection and conspired to defraud the US government, referring him and other associates to the DOJ for prosecution.

Trump seemed to know the indictment was coming. He posted August 1 on TruthSocial that Smith ā€œwill be putting out yet another Fake Indictment of your Favorite President, me,ā€ and previously posted on the platform that heā€™d received whatā€™s known as a target letter from Smith. He wrote, ā€œThey have now effectively indicted me three times,ā€ and called the investigation a ā€œWITCH HUNTā€ as well as ā€œPOLITICAL WEAPONIZATION OF LAW ENFORCEMENTā€ in that earlier, July 18 post.