US prosecutors have charged Donald Trump in connection with his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, the second federal indictment brought against the former president in as many months.
Mr Trump was charged with four criminal counts including conspiracy to defraud the US, to obstruct an official proceeding and to threaten individual rights, according to an indictment filed in federal court in Washington on Tuesday.
The indictment from the Department of Justice stems from an investigation led by special counsel Jack Smith into alleged meddling in the results of the 2020 election and attempts to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s victory. The investigation has focused on the actions of Mr Trump, as well as his allies and supporters, in the lead-up to the January 6th 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
The January 6th attack was “an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy”, Mr Smith said at a brief press conference on Tuesday. “It was fuelled by lies ... by the defendant targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the US government – the nation’s process of collecting, counting and certifying the results of the presidential election.”
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According to the indictment, six co-conspirators joined Mr Trump’s “criminal efforts” to overturn the results of the 2020 polls. The unnamed individuals include attorneys, a Department of Justice official and a political consultant.
The justice department said Mr Trump and his co-conspirators allegedly arranged for fake representatives from seven states, including Pennsylvania and Georgia, to cast votes in the electoral college.
Mr Smith said the department would seek a speedy trial. Mr Trump, who is the overwhelming favourite to be the Republican presidential nominee next year, is due to make an initial court appearance in Washington on Thursday.
Despite losing the 2020 election, Mr Trump “was determined to remain in power”, the justice department said in the indictment, spreading lies about his supposed victory for more than two months after the vote.
“These claims were false, and the defendant knew that they were false,” the indictment said. Nevertheless, Mr Trump “repeated and widely disseminated them anyway – to make his knowingly false claims appear legitimate, create an intense national atmosphere of mistrust and anger, and erode public faith in the administration of the election”.
In a statement, the Trump campaign said the indictment was part of a “continued pathetic attempt” by Mr Biden and the justice department to “interfere” with the 2024 election.
“The lawlessness of these persecutions of president Trump and his supporters is reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, the former Soviet Union, and other authoritarian, dictatorial regimes,” the campaign said.
Senior Democrats welcomed the charges. “This indictment is the most serious and most consequential thus far and will stand as a stark reminder ... that no one, including a president of the United States, is above the law,” said Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrats in Congress, in a joint statement.
But Republicans, including Mr Trump’s 2024 rivals, refrained from criticising him. “As president, I will end the weaponisation of government, replace the FBI director, and ensure a single standard of justice for all Americans,” Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, wrote in a tweet, adding that he had not read the indictment.
Mr Trump and his accomplices also tried to get the Department of Justice to open “sham election crime investigations” and to enlist then vice-president Mike Pence to change the outcome of the vote, according to the indictment. Mr Pence refused, saying he lacked the legal authority, prompting Mr Trump to reply, “you’re too honest”, according to the indictment.
Following the indictment on Tuesday, Mr Pence, who is also running to be the Republican presidential nominee next year, said the charges were an “important reminder” that “anyone who puts himself over the constitution should never be president”.
Mr Trump already faces federal criminal charges over the handling of classified documents, and state charges over alleged hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels in the run-up to the 2016 election.
The justice department’s January 6th case is seen as one of the most serious legal challenges faced by Mr Trump. It is the second set of charges brought by Mr Smith, who was appointed by US attorney general Merrick Garland to oversee investigations involving the ex-president.
A further legal hurdle looms in the state of Georgia, where a special grand jury has been investigating alleged interference by the ex-president and others in the 2020 polls. If Fani Willis, district attorney for Fulton County, decides to bring charges in the separate case, they are widely expected to materialise later in the summer.
Mr Trump has vowed to move ahead with his campaign despite the mounting legal risks. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2023