A grand jury has charged the Republican leader with obstruction, conspiracy, in attempt to undo 2020 election loss.
Former United States President Donald Trump faces his third criminal indictment in four months, this time stemming from a federal investigation into his alleged attempts to interfere with the results of the 2020 election.
The 45-page indictment was filed in Washington, DC, by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who has led investigations into the former president on behalf of the US Department of Justice.
The former president has been accused of attempting to overturn his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 race.
“Despite having lost, the Defendant was determined to remain in power,” the indictment reads. “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.”
While the indictment affirms Trump’s right to free speech, it claims the former president “pursued unlawful means of discounting legitimate votes and subverting the election results”.
Those efforts included pressure campaigns on swing states and their election officials to reverse Biden’s victory.
Tuesday’s charges include one count of conspiracy to defraud the US, one count of conspiracy against rights, one count of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, and one count of obstructing an official proceeding.
The former president has been summoned to appear before a federal district court on August 3. Six unnamed co-conspirators were also included in the indictment, one of whom is believed to be Rudy Giuliani, who served on Trump’s legal team.
The election lies Trump disseminated helped spur his supporters to storm the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to disrupt the certification of the election results.
Trump — a Republican frontrunner in the 2024 presidential race — teased the news earlier in the day on his Truth Social platform, as he has with earlier indictments.
“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,” he wrote.
“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!”
Tuesday’s indictment is the latest legal woe in a litany of cases and investigations Trump faces.
In April, he became the first US president, current or former, to face a criminal indictment when Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg filed 34 state-level charges against him for falsifying business records.
That case pertained to a hush-money payment made to an adult film star during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Then, in June, Special Counsel Smith filed 37 federal charges alleging that Trump and his valet, Walt Nauta, attempted to retain and conceal classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, despite requests to surrender them to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Archives.
That indictment was expanded just last week with additional counts, bringing the total to 40, and an additional defendant: property manager Carlos de Oliveira.
This is a breaking news story. More updates to follow.
