Current:Home > Contact-usTrump hit with sweeping indictment in alleged effort to overturn 2020 election-InfoLens
Trump hit with sweeping indictment in alleged effort to overturn 2020 election
View Date:2024-12-23 10:43:19
Former President Donald Trump has been indicted on charges related to special counsel Jack Smith's probe into efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The sweeping indictment charges Trump with four counts: 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.
The alleged conspiracies include enlisting a slate of so-called "fake electors" targeting several states, using the Justice Department to conduct "sham election crime investigations," enlisting the vice president to "alter the election results." and doubling down on false claims as the Jan. 6 riot ensued.
MORE: Timeline: Special counsel's probe into Trump's efforts to overturn 2020 election
The indictment alleges that Trump knew that the claims he advanced about the election, specifically in Arizona and Georgia, were false -- yet he repeated them for months.
There are also six unnamed co-conspirators, including multiple attorneys and a Justice Department official.
"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."
"These claims were false, and the Defendant knew that they were false. But the Defendant 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," reads the indictment.
The former president has been summoned to appear in court on Thursday in Washington, D.C.
The charges mark the third time the former president has been indicted on criminal charges, following his indictment last month in the special counsel's probe into his handling of classified materials after leaving office, and his indictment in April on New York state charges of falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Trump, who has decried the probes as political witch hunts, pleaded not guilty to all charges in both those cases.
In the history of the country, no president or former president had ever been indicted prior to Trump's first indictment in April.
Trump was informed by Smith on July 16 that he was a target in the election probe, in a letter that sources said mentioned three federal statutes: conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud the United States, deprivation of rights under a civil rights statute, and tampering with a witness, victim or an informant.
A grand jury empaneled by Smith in Washington, D.C., has been speaking with witnesses ranging from former White House aides to state election officials. Among those testifying in recent weeks have been former top Trump aide Hope Hicks and Trump's son-in-law and former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner.
MORE: As Trump faces criminal charges, here are 27 people he's previously said should be indicted or jailed
Investigators have also been speaking with election officials who are believed to have been part of the failed 2020 effort to put forward slates of so-called "fake electors" to cast electoral college votes for Trump on Jan. 6.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith to oversee both the election probe and the classified documents probe, after Trump's announcement in November that he was again running for president triggered the appointment of an independent special counsel to avoid a potential conflict of interest in the Justice Department.
veryGood! (7)
Related
- New York races to revive Manhattan tolls intended to fight traffic before Trump can block them
- Mississippi Rep. Nick Bain concedes loss to gun shop owner Brad Mattox in Republican primary runoff
- Are we witnessing the death of movie stars?
- Foreign Relations chair seeks answers from US oil firms on Russia business after Ukraine invasion
- Are Ciara Ready and Russell Wilson Ready For Another Baby? She Says…
- Canada announces public inquiry into whether China, Russia and others interfered in elections
- Philanthropies pledge $500 million to address 'crisis in local news'
- Stock market today: Asian shares fall as China reports weaker global demand hit its trade in August
- 'SNL' stars jokingly declare support for Trump, Dana Carvey plays Elon Musk
- Report blames deadly Iowa building collapse on removal of bricks and lack of shoring
Ranking
- New Mexico secretary of state says she’s experiencing harassment after the election
- Taylor Momsen was 'made fun of relentlessly' for starring in 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas'
- Grizzly bear suspected of maulings near Yellowstone area killed after breaking into house
- Mississippi Rep. Nick Bain concedes loss to gun shop owner Brad Mattox in Republican primary runoff
- CRYPTIFII Introduce
- Little Amal, a 12-foot puppet of a Syrian refugee, began its journey across the US in Boston
- Prosecutors charge Wisconsin man of assaulting officer during Jan. 6 attack at US Capitol
- Erythritol is sugar substitute. But what's in it and why is it so popular?
Recommendation
-
'Climate change is real': New York parks employee killed as historic drought fuels blazes
-
USF is building a $340M on-campus football stadium despite concerns academics are being left behind
-
Prosecutors charge Wisconsin man of assaulting officer during Jan. 6 attack at US Capitol
-
Company pulls spicy One Chip Challenge from store shelves as Massachusetts investigates teen’s death
-
Horoscopes Today, November 10, 2024
-
11-year-old dead, woman injured in shooting near baseball stadium
-
Most American women still say I do to name change after marriage, new survey finds
-
Alabama doctor who fled police before crash that killed her daughter now facing charges, police say