The twice-impeached Trump now faces his second criminal indictment as he looks to recapture White House

Donald Trump, who has often lied, unquestionably told the truth when he said Thursday was a "dark day" for America.

The ex-president's social media post correctly described the magnitude of his indictment over the alleged mishandling of classified documents - though completely ignored any personal culpability in the case.

But the first-ever indictment of a former president by a federal grand jury thrust the country into an unprecedented and perilous moment in its history at a time when it is already internally estranged over politics.

Immediate claims by Republicans led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy that the indictment is evidence of the "brazen weaponization of power" by the Biden administration ahead of an election in which Trump is running show the extent of the test now faced by the country's judicial institutions. The speaker's loyalty to Trump - who is still hugely popular among base voters in the GOP - was especially notable since the evidence against the former president is not yet publicly available. While Trump is entitled to the presumption of innocence, the rush to judgment suggests that some of his supporters believe that a former commander-in-chief who was impeached twice, tried to steal an election and is already facing a separate criminal trial next March is essentially above legal scrutiny. This is a position that has huge implications for US democracy.

Criminal probes of former presidents and current presidential candidates might be business as usual in tottering developing world states. But there's no parallel for an ex-commander in chief facing federal charges in the US, much less one who has already incited violence in order to advance his political ends and is currently running to recapture the White House.

If that was not serious enough, these federal charges - related to classified documents that Trump took to his Mar-a-Lago resort - are coming down at a moment when Trump is the front-runner for the Republican nomination in 2024.

These seven counts bring a host of political complications, even if the Justice Department will argue that it's simply following the evidence and is proving that no one, not even former presidents, are above the law.