Former President Donald Trump faced criminal charges on Tuesday for the third time in four months. This time, the allegations are related to Trump’s attempts to reverse his defeat in the 2020 US presidential election.
The charges were brought as part of an investigation led by a special prosecutor USA Jack Smith. The four-count indictment alleges that Trump conspired to prevent Congress from confirming President Joe Biden’s victory, depriving voters of their right to a fair election.
Trump is scheduled to appear in federal court on Thursday.
Officials testified that Trump pressured them based on false claims of alleged widespread voter fraud. Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 in an attempt to prevent Congress from confirming Biden’s victory.
On July 18, Trump said he had received a letter from Smith stating that he had been the subject of an investigation into the events of January 6, 2021. The investigation is being conducted by a federal grand jury in Washington.
Trump has already become the first former US president to face criminal charges. He attempts to characterize the prosecution as a politically motivated “witch hunt”.
Attorney General and Justice Department Chief Merrick Garland appointed Jack Smith as Special Counsel to investigate Donald Trump last November.
Statement by Special Counsel Jack Smith
Speaking to reporters Thursday night, Jack Smith blamed Trump for the Capitol riots.
“The attack on our nation’s capital on January 6, 2021 was an unprecedented attack on the center of American democracy. As stated in the indictment, it was provoked by a lie – a lie by the defendant who sought … to prevent the US government from fulfilling its fundamental function, ”Smith said.
Trump and his associates allegedly rigged the electoral rolls in seven states where the GOP candidate actually lost the election in order to submit their votes for counting and certification by Congress on January 6.
The indictment outlines numerous examples of Trump’s attempted electoral fraud. At the same time, the special prosecutor notes that close advisers, including high-ranking intelligence officials, repeatedly told the ex-president that the election results were legal.
“The respondent knew that [его утверждения] were false,” reads the final accusation.
When an attempt to certify the results with fake electors failed, Trump tried to pressure Vice President Mike Pence not to certify the bicameral general meeting as required by law. The special counsel believes that Trump and his accomplices organized the riots at the Capitol for this very purpose. During the riots, Trump rejected calls from his advisers to calm the crowds gathered outside the Capitol.
“The defendant attempted to use the crowd of supporters he had gathered in Washington, D.C. to pressure the Vice President into fraudulently changing the election results,” the indictment says.
The Trump campaign said in a statement that the former president has always followed the law. The ex-president described his indictment as political “persecution” in the spirit of Nazi Germany.
The indictment alleges that Trump conspired with six other unnamed individuals. The description of one of them matches that of former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, who sought to be appointed attorney general to investigate alleged election fraud in Georgia and other swing states.
The other alleged accomplice in question is most likely attorney John Eastman, who erroneously suggested that Vice President Pence might have refused to confirm the election results. Both Eastman and Clark had their phones seized and searched during an investigation last year.
The indictment also names Trump’s personal lawyer, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, as someone who was willing to pursue a legal strategy that Trump’s campaign lawyers did not.
