Topline
Former President Donald Trump was charged with four federal crimes Tuesday afternoon related to his efforts to stay in office despite losing the 2020 election, an unprecedented move that follows months of investigation into the leadup to the January 6 Capitol riot—marking his third set of criminal charges since leaving office.
President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference August 6, 2022 in … [+]
Key Facts
Trump was charged in D.C. federal court with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy against rights of citizens, obstructing an official proceeding and conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding.
The 45-page indictment says Trump “pursued unlawful means of discounting legitimate votes and subverting the election results,” part of what the Department of Justice alleges were three criminal conspiracies that “targeted a bedrock function of the United States federal government.”
The indictment takes aim at several parts of Trump’s effort to stay in office: It says his criminal conspiracy included pushing state officials like Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to overturn Joe Biden’s wins, leading a scheme to put together bogus slates of electors that declared Trump the winner of several crucial swing states, and using the DOJ to “conduct sham election crime investigations.”
The Department of Justice also said Trump “directly pressured” Vice President Mike Pence to fraudulently reject Joe Biden’s win when Congress met to certify the election results on January 6, and when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol that day, Trump and his allies “exploited the disruption by redoubling efforts to levy false claims of election fraud.”
Prosecutors said Trump repeatedly—and knowingly—lied about voter fraud in states like Arizona and Georgia, which the indictment called “integral to his criminal plans,” citing instances in which Trump circulated claims he was told were false or even “conceded … were unsupported” himself.
No other defendants were charged, but the indictment mentions several unnamed co-conspirators, including attorneys who allegedly participated in the scheme to overturn the election results, a Justice Department official and a political consultant.
Tangent
The DOJ did not directly charge Trump with inciting the January 6 riot, but large parts of the indictment present the events of that day as a direct result of Trump’s actions. DOJ Special Counsel Jack Smith called the riot an “unprecedented assault” that was “fueled by lies.” The indictment also cites Trump’s attempts to pressure Pence during a raucous speech on the day of the riot, and alleges he later refused to send a message telling rioters to leave the Capitol, even as some of the rioters chanted “hang Mike Pence,” the DOJ notes. Instead, Trump and his allies allegedly spent much of the day urging lawmakers to overturn Biden’s win.
Chief Critic
Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign blasted the indictment in a statement, claiming it was “election interference” and “reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, the former Soviet Union, and other authoritarian, dictatorial regimes.”
This is a developing story; it will be updated.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2023/08/01/trump-indicted-ex-president-faces-4-criminal-counts-in-jan-6-probe/