Per theindictment, Trump was charged with one count each of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.
The indictment alleges that Trump, after losing the 2020 presidential election, “was determined to remain in power.” The indictment also lists several unnamed co-conspirators, including four attorneys, a Justice Department official, and a political consultant who “helped implement a plan to submit fraudulent slates of presidential electors to obstruct the certification” of votes.
“So for more than two months following election day on November 3, 2020, the Defendant spread lies that there had been outcome-determinative fraud in the election and that he had actually won,” it reads.
Dennis Van Tine/STAR MAX/AP
He also touted the work of the law enforcement officers who defended the Capitol that day, noting that “they did not just defend a building … they put their lives on the line to defend who we are as a country and as a people.”
This marks the third indictment of the twice-impeached former president, who was indicted two times before in 2023 — oncefor alleged hush money paymentsmade to women surrounding the 2016 election, and again on federal chargesrelated to his handling of classified documentsafter leaving the White House.
In a statement shared to his social media site Truth Social moments before the indictment was announced, Trump called Smith “deranged,” writing, " “I hear that Deranged Jack Smith, in order to interfere with the Presidential Election of 2024, will be putting out yet another Fake Indictment of your favorite President, me, at 5:00 P.M. Why didn’t they do this 2.5 years ago? Why did they wait so long? Because they wanted to put it right in the middle of my campaign. Prosecutorial Misconduct!”
Attorney GeneralMerrick Garlandpreviously called the insurrection probe “the most wide-ranging investigation in [the department’s] history.”
Trump is expected to answer to the charges in Washington, D.C. on Thursday. His case was assigned to Obama-appointed Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, whom MSNBC’s Kyle Griffinreportsis the only federal judge in Washington to give Jan. 6 rioters longer sentences than prosecutors recommended.
Chutkan ruled against Trump in his 2021 attempt to block the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riots from accessing relevant records. Her ruling earned national attention for declaring that “Presidents are not kings.”
Former President Donald Trump arrives at New York Criminal Court to answer to charges related to alleged hush money payments on April 4, 2023.John Angelillo/UPI/Shutterstock
The latest federal indictment is separate from that House committee’s investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, which wrapped in December 2022 following a series oftelevised public hearingsthroughout the summer.
That House committee formally recommended that the Department of Justicelay four criminal chargesagainst the former president, including conspiracy to defraud the government and inciting an insurrection.
In June, he wasindicted on the federal leveland accused of 37 criminal offenses: 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information (a violation of the Espionage Act); one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice; one count of withholding a document or record; one count of corruptly concealing a document or record; one count of concealing a document in a federal investigation; one count of scheme to conceal; and one count of false statements and representations. Hepleaded not guiltyto those charges as well.
On Thursday, asuperseding indictmentin the classified documents case handed down more charges: one additional count of willful retention of national defense information and two additional obstruction counts.
source: people.com
