Based on its continuing investigation, particularly interviews of witnesses whom prosecutors do not want to identify, the FBI concluded that Trump persisted in storing top-secret intelligence at Mar-a-Lago. While some was likely to be in the boxes, other documents were apt to be found in his office space, among other places he frequented.

That is just what the August 8 search uncovered. As prosecutors point out, in addition to finding classified documents in Trump’s office, the FBI found 76 classified documents in storage room boxes — more than twice as many as Trump’s representatives produced on June 3 when they claimed there was nothing more to be found at the resort.

This is a serious obstruction case that appears as if it would not be difficult to prove. The Justice Department is under immense pressure from the Democratic base to indict Trump, and the jury pool in Washington, DC, where the government would file any indictment, is intensely anti-Trump. It is thus hard to imagine that Attorney General Merrick Garland will decide against filing charges.

The best hope Trump has of avoiding an indictment is that Democrats would rather run against a wounded Trump in 2024 than indict him in 2022.