Former President Donald J. Trump will face a judge Thursday after being indicted for his alleged attempts to obstruct the 2020 US presidential election. A grand jury in Washington D.C. indicted the 45th president on Tuesday on four counts of conspiracy and obstruction including conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiring to infringe on the rights of voters, and conspiring and attempting to obstruct official election-related proceedings including the congressional process that was taking place at the US Capitol building on January 6, 2021.
This third indictment of the former president alleges that in the months between Trump losing the US presidential election in November 2020 and the assault on the Capitol building on January 6, 2021, Trump used “knowingly false claims of election fraud” to attempt to obstruct the certification process.
The indictment lists six co-conspirators who prosecutors say assisted Trump in attempting to overturn the 2020 US elections including three attorneys, a justice department official attempting to open a false investigation into election fraud, and a political consultant accused of assisting with a plan to attempt to obstruct the elections involving fraudulent slates of electors in seven states.
The 45-page indictment also includes an hour-by-hour breakdown of how Trump and co-conspirators conspired to obstruct the certification on January 6, 2021, leading up to and through the attacks on the Capitol. Prosecutors in detail describe evidence of communication between Trump and his co-conspirators.
“The attack on our nation’s capital on January 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy. As described in the indictment, it was fueled by lies. Lies by the defendant targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the US,” Special Counsel Jack Smith, who has led the investigation said Tuesday while announcing the indictment.
“In this case, my office will seek a speedy trial so that our evidence can be tested in court and judged by a jury of citizens,” Smith said.
James M. Doyle a Boston defense lawyer and the co-author of Eyewitness Testimony: Civil and Criminal, points to the looming 2024 presidential election as a possible reason the special counsel decided to use such immediate and damning language around how Trump’s actions constitute a crime.
“The indictment is carefully crafted in an apparent recognition of the fact that Trump’s only defense is delay. Because of that recognition, the indictment leaves no openings for (for example) a bogus First Amendment defense,” Doyle told The Crime Report.
While some opponents to the former president are already commending the actions of the special counsel to investigate serious allegations, to Doyle, what the indictment leaves out is an explicit charge of overthrowing the government which can be covered by a charge of Seditious Conspiracy.
“I believe that the fact that the Special Counsel is up against the presidential election clock has forced him to forego charging the most important, Seditious Conspiracy, a charge that Trump’s conduct justifies. If the Special Counsel had set to work two years ago this important allegation could be set before a jury,” Doyle said.
Legislators started to way in on the Federal indictment on Tuesday with Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) emphasizing the importance of letting the charges play out. Pelosi also commended the work of the January 6 House Select Committee which previously investigated the attack on the Capitol.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) also weighed in on the indictment Tuesday calling it a targeted and politically motivated attack on Trump, echoing remarks made by Trump and some of his allies.
“American people now face a 2024 presidential election season, and a presidential election that could and should be about reproductive rights, Medicare drug prices, ‘build out from the middle’ economic policy, support for Ukraine and NATO, and other issues but now will inescapably be about Trump,” Doyle said.
Trump is set to be arraigned on Thursday at the Elijah Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington, D.C. kicking off the first step in the high-profile case.
