A Washington D.C. grand jury handed up an indictment Tuesday involving federal crimes alleged against Donald Trump and possibly others related to the Jan. 6 riot and the 2020 presidential election.
The indictment marks the third criminal case being brought against the former president. A copy of the indictment was obtained by multiple media outlets. You can view it here.
The counts include conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights.
Federal Special Counsel Jack Smith took the podium in Washington, D.C., to announce the charges and the severity of the case charging Trump with “conspiring to defraud the United States.”
“The attack on our nation’s capitol… was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy,” Smith said.
Smith complimented the capitol police who were assaulted in the Jan. 6 riot.
“They did not just defend a building. They put their lives on the line to defend who we are as a people,” Smith said. “This case is brought consistent with that commitment.”
Smith said the public should remember that the charges are “allegations,” and that Trump should be considered “innocent until proven guilty.”
In other legal woes, Trump was arrested and released on June 13, in Miami, Florida, after being charged with 37 counts related to the alleged mishandling of more than 100 classified documents — stored at his Mar-a-Lago estate — containing national security secrets. He pleaded not guilty to the Espionage Act charges, including conspiracy to obstruct justice and willful retention of defense records.
In March, a Manhattan grand jury voted to indict Trump for allegedly falsifying business records to cover up an alleged “hush money payment” to porn actress Stormy Daniels. Trump has pled not guilty to those charges.
In addition to his criminal cases, a federal judge recently upheld a $5 million jury verdict against Trump in a civil case of sexual abuse and defamation brought by Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll, who claimed Trump raped her in a New York department store dressing room in 1996.
Trump’s campaign Tuesday released a statement accusing the Biden Administration of “weaponizing” the U.S. Justice Department.
“This is nothing more than the latest corrupt chapter in the continued pathetic attempt by the Biden Crime Family and their weaponized Department of Justice to interfere with the 2024 Presidential Election, in which President Trump is the undisputed frontrunner, and leading by substantial margins,” ” the campaign said in a statement posted on Truth Social. “But why did they wait two and a half years to bring these fake charges, right in the middle of President Trump’s winning campaign for 2024?”
