Trump receives a target letter in Jan. 6 special counsel investigation
By Caroline Linton, Robert Legare, Graham Kates, Melissa Quinn, Fin Gómez
Updated on: July 18, 2023 / 11:55 AM / CBS News
Former President Donald Trump posted on social media on Tuesday that he has received a letter indicating he is the target of a criminal investigation by a grand jury investigating attempts to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 election.
Multiple sources confirmed to CBS News that the former president's post is accurate, and a senior Trump source told CBS that Trump did receive a target letter on Sunday night to report to the grand jury, which was related to special counsel's Jan. 6 probe.
The former president said on Truth Social, his social media platform, that he had received a letter saying he's "a TARGET" of an investigation from special counsel Jack Smith Sunday night. Trump said he was given four days to report to the grand jury.
He repeated his claim that the special counsel is engaged in a "witch hunt" and criticized the investigation as a "complete and total political weaponization of law enforcement."
What is the special counsel investigating?
The special counsel's office has been investigating a meeting at the Oval Office on Dec. 18, 2020, where Trump talked about bringing in attorney Sidney Powell as special counsel at the White House and seizing voting machines by an executive order.
Earlier this month, CBS News' Robert Costa reported special counsel investigators are digging into whether Trump believed the fraudulent claims of election fraud raised at that meeting, weeks ahead of Jan. 6, even though White House lawyers told him in person that night — and after — the claims were not true.
Several members of Trump's inner circle have testified as part of the special counsel's probe, including former Vice President Mike Pence, White House counsel Pat Cipollone, national security adviser Robert O'Brien, top aide Stephen Miller and close ally Steve Bannon.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, whom Trump asked in a phone call on Jan. 2, 2021, to "find" 11,780 votes — just enough to give Georgia's electoral votes to the former president — has also testified in the probe.
In addition to the attempts to "find" votes in Georgia, a group of phony electors from battleground states won by President Biden met in December 2020 and signed a certificate falsely declaring that Trump had won the presidential election in their states and that they themselves were the state's "duly elected and qualified" electors.
Ahead of the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump also publicly pressured Pence to "do the right thing" and refuse to accept the election results. At a rally near the White House ahead of the joint session, Trump encouraged followers to "walk down" to the Capitol to support him as Congress conducted the largely ceremonial affirmation of the Electoral College votes.
Thousands of Trump's supporters then stormed the Capitol, and lawmakers were sent fleeing amid the violence, delaying the certification of the election results for hours. Pence finally announced Mr. Biden as the winner of the election after 1 a.m. on Jan. 7. Other investigations into Trump
Smith was appointed last November by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate not only the events surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol but also Trump's handling of national defense-related documents since leaving office. In June, Trump and longtime aide Walt Nauta were charged with multiple federal felony counts related to the documents. Trump pleaded not guilty on June 13 to the 37 charges against him.
A special purpose grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, earlier this year wrapped up its investigation into alleged attempts by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has said she will announce decisions on possible charges related to that investigation this summer.
Trump has also separately been charged in New York for allegedly falsifying business records in connection to a "hush money" payout to porn star Stormy Daniels. He pleaded not guilty in April to those state charges.
The latest on the special counsel's criminal probe into 2020 election aftermath
What we're covering here;
Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he’s been informed by special counsel Jack Smith that he is a target of the criminal investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election leading up to the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. A spokesperson for Smith declined to comment on the letter.
A target letter from federal prosecutors to Trump makes clear that they are focused on Trump’s actions in the investigation—and not just of those around him who tried to stop his election loss. The move is also a sign Trump may soon be charged by the special counsel.
Meanwhile, in a separate case, Smith’s team and lawyers for Trump will appear Tuesday for the first time in front of the judge who will preside over the criminal case brought against the former president over his handling of classified documents.
Here's who has testified to the January 6 grand jury
For months, federal prosecutors have brought witnesses in front of a grand jury in Washington, DC, to investigate efforts by former President Donald Trump and his close allies to reverse the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The witnesses, several of whom appeared under subpoena, range from low-level aides to Trump’s own vice president. There are also several key witnesses who have met with prosecutors for interviews that could help special counsel Jack Smith build his case.
Any indictment that comes from the sprawling probe into the aftermath of the election, efforts to overturn the result or the January 6, 2021, attack at the US Capitol will likely rely, at least in part, on what those individuals testified to under oath behind closed doors.
Here’s who’s appeared before the grand jury:
Mike Pence : Former Vice President Mike Pence testified in April – the first time in modern history that a vice president has been compelled to testify about the president he served beside. Pence testified for over five hours and was likely asked to recount his direct conversations with Trump leading up to January 6, 2021, and Trump’s unsuccessfully attempt to pressure him into blocking the 2020 election’s result. Both Pence and Trump asked for the subpoena to be thrown out, but trial and appellate judges rejected that request.
Mark Meadows: Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff, appeared before the grand jury in June. He was also ordered by a judge to provide documents to investigators despite claims of executive privilege. As chief of staff, Meadows was in the middle of Trump’s efforts to overturn the election in the two months between Election Day and Joe Biden’s inauguration. Meadows pushed Justice Department officials to investigate debunked claims of voter fraud and communicated with Trump’s allies about plans to challenge Biden’s win.
Marc Short: Marc Short, former chief of staff to Pence, testified to the grand jury about the fake elector scheme and the role of Trump lawyers John Eastman and Rudy Giuliani.
Greg Jacob : Greg Jacob, a former aide to Pence, was also questioned about the scheme to appoint fake electors in battleground states. Short and Jacob, both members of Pence’s inner circle, were present in key meetings in the lead-up to the January 6 riot that were part of a pressure campaign to convince Pence to disrupt Congress’ certification of Biden’s electoral win.
Dan Scavino: Former White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino testified to the grand jury twice – before and after a court decision that he cannot withhold answers on presidential secrecy
House Democrats react to Trump target letter
Multiple House Democrats quickly reacted on Tuesday morning to the news that special counsel Jack Smith sent a target letter to former president Donald Trump regarding efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
House Democratic Caucus chair Pete Aguilar said that the target letter is “not surprising.”
“We're appreciative of the work of the Department of Justice and their focus on staying true to finding the facts and holding people accountable,” he said. “Their track record has been very solid when it comes to prosecutions, and we expect that the target letter and the work that the grand jury continues to do will meet that threshold of seeking the facts and holding people accountable, no matter where they are, no matter who they are.”
Earlier Tuesday morning, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said that he hadn’t seen the letter, and didn’t have a comment, and House Minority Whip Katherine Clark said the “DOJ continues to follow the facts and the law, and we will see what happens.”
Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer said he thinks "former President Trump has done repeatedly things that call upon law enforcement at every level to look at what he has done because so much of it is certainly questionable at best and illegal at worst.”
Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said, “There is little doubt that former President Trump was very specifically and granularly involved in trying to overturn the results of a legitimate presidential election that he lost.”
“The special counsel has clearly done an incredibly exhaustive investigation into Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. And this appears to be the culmination of it," New York Rep. Dan Goldman said, adding that he expects Trump to be indicted in the "near future."
Trump team making calls after target letter to figure out who else was sent one, sources say
Former President Donald Trump’s team has spent the morning calling lawyers and allies involved in the January 6 investigation, working to figure out who else — if anyone — was also sent a target letter in the probe, multiple sources familiar with the outreach told CNN.
The team is hoping to glean better insight into what a potential case against the former president might look like, the sources added.
Trump himself has been compartmentalizing the news. On Monday, he spent the day at his Bedminster Golf Club with a few close advisers. The former president is traveling to Iowa later Tuesday with a small group of his campaign team for a town hall with Sean Hannity on Fox News.
White House declines to comment on Trump target letter
The White House is declining to comment on the news that former President Trump has received a target letter in the special counsel’s January 6th investigation.
White House spokesperson Ian Sams declined to comment, referring any questions to the Department of Justice.
This is in keeping with the White House’s practice of not commenting on ongoing DOJ investigations or prosecutorial actions to avoid any appearance of political influence on the DOJ’s independence.
CNN has also reached out to Biden’s campaign for comment.
McCarthy claims Biden administration is weaponizing government "to go after their No. 1 opponent"
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reacted to the target letter former President Donald Trump received, claiming that President Joe Biden's administration is weaponizing government “to go after their number one opponent.”
“Well, I guess under a Biden administration by America, you'd expect this. If you notice recently, President Trump went up in the polls and was actually surpassing President Biden for reelection. So what do they do now? Weaponize government to go after their number one opponent. It's time and time again," he said Tuesday.
"I think the American public is tired of this. They want to have equal justice, and the idea that they utilize this to go after those who politically disagree with them is wrong,” McCarthy added.
What other House Republicans are saying: Despite facing the potential of a third criminal indictment, several House Republicans made clear they would support Trump no matter what, even as they claimed that the Justice Department was unfairly targeting him, despite not having seen the evidence in the January 6, 2021, investigation.
Texas Rep. Troy Nehls, who learned about the target letter from CNN’s Manu Raju on Tuesday, said emphatically that he still supports him.
“I have from the beginning,” Nehls said. “Donald Trump's the leader of our party, and Donald Trump is going to beat Joe Biden in 2024 for a second time.”
Nehls accused the “far left” of having a “severe crush on this guy.”
He added that the investigation shows that Democrats were “scared shitless” of Trump.
“Why are they doing everything they can to prevent him from being on the ballot in 2024? I'll tell you why. Because Donald Trump will win in 2024 and the left just they're scared shitless,” he said.
Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett said he would “probably” would not support Trump in 2024 “if he's found guilty of a felony." But he added that Trump will benefit politically from this.
"Every time they indicted him, his numbers go up," Burchett said when asked if this calls into question Trump's viability as a candidate.
On the Jan. 6 insurrection, Burchett did not blame Trump for the violence that day but said: “We need to know how many federal agents were in the corral and what their exact role was,” he said. “I think that would be a good question.”
Other Republicans were less willing to comment on the investigation into Trump. While Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke said he didn’t “find it surprising at all,” he would only say “we’ll see” when asked by Raju if he would continue to support his former boss. Florida Rep. Mike Waltz said he would “have to see when it’s all over," as did Florida Rep. Carlos Gimenez and Georgia Rep. Barry Loudermilk.
Meanwhile on the Senate side, Sen. Ted Cruz blasted the Justice Department in a tweet saying, "The continued politicization and weaponization of the Department of Justice has turned our institutions into enforcers for the Biden administration’s partisan priorities. It remains deeply harmful to the rule of law."
same playbook will be tried over and over and over
Trump's survive-the-unsurvivable plan (June 2023) www.axios.com ...Never in the history of American politics has one man survived and even thrived off more terrible news than Donald Trump. Why it matters: The former president has racked up impeachments, investigations, and indictments at a pace never seen in America. Yet he persists " and often comes out stronger. Between the lines: Trump has had a lot of practice surviving the unsurvivable. So his team has developed a playbook to repeat during bad news. - - - Pre-release: Trump will preempt any damaging announcement by releasing new information himself beforehand to try to blunt the impact of coming revelations. - - - Whataboutism: Trump will try to muddy the waters by pointing to any mistakes " real, exaggerated, or false " by his opponents. - - - Martyrdom: He will tell his supporters that any allegations against him are part of a larger conspiracy against his cause to fight the establishment. - - - Solidarity: Even before all the facts are known, Trump has his allies hit the airwaves to claim that he is innocent or his enemies are corrupt. - - - Shamelessness: Trump never hides or acts embarrassed, even in the face of damning information. - - - Flood the zone online: Trump's team prepares large volumes of content ahead of time to pump out on social media. - - - Raise big money: Never waste a chance to raise money " especially if the Justice Department indicts him for obstruction and mishandling classified materials. - - - Go apocalyptic: "In the end, they're not coming after me, they're coming after you " and I'm just standing in their way," Trump said Saturday at a rally in Columbus, Ga., in his first appearance since the Florida indictment. He also said: "This is the final battle." ...
And those are the only choices he has. He can't attack the facts. He can't attack the evidence even though some of it is on tape and said during interviews and in his own statements. So those are the only strategies at his disposal.
I have no idea if anyone else being investigated has received target letters. But my guess is that if they haven't, some of them will. Unless of course they've already reached deals to testify for the prosecution.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Yahoo!!! Ain't he special- Raw Story- "In fact, Trump has now been indicted on over 30 charges in New York state, seven federal charges, he's been impeached twice, he was held liable and concluded he "sexually abused" E. Jean Carroll, and he has been accused of sexual assault or sexual harassment by two dozen other women." We know all of the above are LIES/ NOT. Plus he's been sued hundreds of times, married three times, changed Political parties several times----AND, he's the Republican nominee leader. Just, WOW. He's America's best.....NOT.
"You've never lived till you've almost died, life has a flavor the protected will never know" A vet or cop
From trump U to the documents case. The list is long.
But of all the crimes he has committed Jan 6th is proof of him being a traitor. He attempted to overturn a valid election so he could remain in office.
A crime he was never charged with and should be is gross negligence and incompetence for what he did while in office when Covid hit. Thousands followed his lead and payed with their lives. Nobody talks about that anymore. In a time when the country looked for leadership and positive action. He failed. He mislead people about Covid and he has never been held accountable for it.
By the target letter, it states that trump has until this Thursday to schedule on his own to come in and answer questions.
Also, has anyone else received target letters. Nobody else has come forward yet
I doubt that anyone else would consider it wise to report that they've received a Target Letter. Trump wears stuff like this as a badge of courage,, I doubt anyone else would see it that way. JMO however.
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe." Damanshot
From his playbook above, trump spent the couple days after he received the letter working the phone to his suck ups in the house- and without seeing a single line in the indictment, they all come out singing the same song
And they are throwing a couple new ideas around-try to impeach Garland or defund the special council-I also heard last night trying to defund the DOJ/FBI
I heard a clip this morning from the head clown last night on hannity that "he never received a subpoena before, didn't know what one was" Well, isn't that special
It is a real statement about the republican party that this criminal is their leading candidate.
The Christian right and the party of Law and Order.
Selecting a criminal as their leader. Guilty of sexual assault. Twice impeached. Indicted for stealing classified documents.
To be indicted for obstruction of government's transfer of power. Along with the many crimes of Jan 6th. To be indicted on State charges for election interference and fake electors scheme.
His supporters are as guilty as he is. Blind cultists full of misinformation.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp contacted by special counsel in 2020 election probe
Kemp’s office previously confirmed that Trump tried to pressure the governor to order a special session of the state Legislature to overturn Biden’s narrow victory in the state.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp was contacted by special counsel Jack Smith's office as it investigates efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election results, a spokesperson for the governor confirmed on Friday.
"I can confirm our office has been contacted by Jack Smith’s office," Andrew Isenhour said in a statement, declining to provide further comment.
The Washington Post first reported on the Republican governor's contact with Smith's office, which has been examining false electors from battleground states who in most cases signed certification documents purporting that Trump had won in their states even though he had lost.
A spokesperson for the special counsel's office declined to comment.
Trump said Tuesday that he had received a letter from Smith informing him he is a target of an investigation by a federal grand jury tasked with examining the riot on Jan. 6, 2021, and efforts to overturn President Joe Biden's electoral victory.
Weeks after the 2020 election, Kemp’s office confirmed that Trump called the governor and tried to pressure him to order a special session of the state Legislature to overturn Biden’s narrow victory in Georgia.
Last month, the Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office confirmed that special counsel investigators would interview Raffensperger, who was pressured by Trump in a phone call days before the Capitol riot to “find” enough votes to overturn his loss in the state.
Raffensperger's office said this week that it had complied with a subpoena issued by the special counsel's office for security footage from a 2020 polling site that Trump had targeted in his election fraud claims.
Kemp's contact with the special counsel is not the first time he has been sought out for information about Trump and his allies' efforts in Georgia.
In November, the governor testified before a special grand jury investigating whether Trump and his allies engaged in election interference in Georgia. That probe, which launched in 2021, is being overseen by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who has indicated that any indictments would likely be handed down in August.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing, calling the Smith and Willis investigations a “witch hunt.”
Kemp has largely refrained from criticizing Trump by name, but has questioned the former president's electability. In a recent CNN interview he suggested that if Trump remains focused on false claims that the 2020 race was stolen, "he's gonna lose Georgia."
Trump once condemned the Jan. 6 rioters. Now he’s become one of their biggest supporters
NEW YORK (AP) — The day after Jan. 6, 2021, then-President Donald Trump denounced the rioters who violently stormed the Capitol building, breaking through barricades, battling law enforcement and sending members of Congress — who were set to formally certify his reelection loss — running for their lives.
“Like all Americans, I am outraged by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem,” he said in a video, condemning what he called a “heinous attack.”
That condemnation was delayed and only offered amid widespread criticism — including from fellow Republicans — for his role in sparking the mayhem. But 2 1/2 years later, any sign of regret or reprimand from Trump has vanished as he prepares to face federal criminal charges for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Now the early but commanding front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, Trump regularly downplays the violence, lionizes the rioters as patriots and spreads false claims about who was involved. He has not only vowed to pardon a “large portion” of Jan. 6 defendants if he wins a second term, but he has also fundraised for them, befriended their families and collaborated on a song that became a surprise iTunes hit.
“They were there proud, they were there with love in their heart. ... And it was a beautiful day,” Trump said at a recent CNN town hall. When asked if he had any regrets about his actions that day, Trump voiced no remorse and instead seemed most concerned about the lack of attention paid to his crowd size.
“Jan. 6: It was the largest crowd I’ve ever spoken to,” he said.
Trump was always reluctant to condemn the actions of supporters spurred by his lies of a stolen election. As the violence unfolded, Trump ignored the desperate pleas of aides and allies to denounce the rioters and ask them to stand down. And when he did speak out, hours later, his response was tepid: He said he loved the rioters and shared their pain.
Trump’s evolution began at a time when he was garnering relatively little mainstream media coverage. And it echoed the efforts of some Republicans in Congress, who had tried to recast the mob as nonviolent despite reams of video footage, public testimony and accounts from members of Congress, journalists and Capitol Police officers, 140 of whom were injured that day.
It also coincided with a broader shift in public opinion. Polling from Monmouth University showed that between March and November 2021, Republicans grew increasingly likely to say the anger that led to the Capitol attack was justified, with 54% saying the anger was either fully or partially justified in the fall — up from 40% that spring.
The Pew Research Center also found that, between March and September 2021, Republicans grew less likely to say it was important for law enforcement agencies to find and prosecute the rioters. Only 57% said that it was very or somewhat important in the fall, down from about 8 in 10 six months earlier.
That March, in an interview with Fox News Channel’s Laura Ingraham, Trump claimed the rioters had posed “zero threat” to the lawmakers who had assembled in the Capitol to certify the Electoral College vote — even though the mob tried to breach the House chamber.
“Look, they went in — they shouldn’t have done it. Some of them went in, and they’re hugging and kissing the police and the guards, you know, they had a great relationship,” he said.
In fact, many of the protesters violently clashed with police as they stormed the building, smashing windows and ramming through doors. Some brandished weapons; others wore tactical gear. Dozens of officers were severely injured.
By that time, many of Trump’s supporters had already painted Ashli Babbitt, one of five people who died during or immediately after the riot, as a martyr unjustly killed by police,
Babbitt was fatally shot by an officer while trying to climb through the broken window of a barricaded door as Capitol Police scrambled to evacuate members.
That summer, Trump began to publicly demand the release of the shooter’s identity, despite the officer being cleared of wrongdoing by two federal investigations.
“Who shot Ashli Babbitt?” Trump asked repeatedly.
Trump called Babbitt “an innocent, wonderful, incredible woman” in an interview with Fox News and described his supporters that day in glowing terms, claiming that there had been a “love fest between the Capitol police and the people that walked down to the Capitol.”
“They were peaceful people. These were great people. The crowd was unbelievable,” he said. “And I mentioned the word ‘love.’ The love — the love in the air, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
That fall, Trump taped a video that was played at an event commemorating what would have been Babbitt’s birthday in which he demanded “justice” for her and her family.
In January 2022, Trump first publicly dangled the prospect of pardons for the Jan. 6 defendants at a rally in Texas.
“If I run and if I win, we will treat those people from Jan. 6 fairly,” he told the crowd. “And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly.” At that point, more than 670 people had been convicted of crimes related to the attack, including some found guilty of seditious conspiracy and assaulting police officers.
In September 2022, Trump told conservative radio host Wendy Bell that he was helping some of the defendants, though aides declined at the time to elaborate or say how much he had contributed.
“I’m financially supporting people that are incredible, and they were in my office actually two days ago. It’s very much on my mind,” he said. “It’s a disgrace what they’ve done to them. ... Contributions should be made.”
Days later, Trump held a rally in Pennsylvania that included remarks from Cynthia Hughes, the founder of the Patriot Freedom Project, whose nephew was convicted for storming the Capitol. Geri Perna, whose nephew died by suicide while awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to riot-related charges, also spoke.
Later that month, the former president called into a small rally held outside a Washington jail where Jan. 6 defendants have been held, led by Micki Witthoeft, Babbitt’s mother.
“We’re with you. We’re working with a lot of different people on this. And we can’t let this happen,” he said via a cellphone held up to a microphone.
Trump’s support has only intensified since he formally launched his third campaign.
Earlier this year, he collaborated on “Justice for All,” a song that features a choir of Jan. 6 defendants singing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” recorded over a prison phone line and overlaid with Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
Trump featured the song at the first official rally of his 2024 campaign, standing with his hand on his heart as a music video featuring violent footage of the riot played behind him on two giant screens.
In June, he spoke at a Patriot Freedom Project fundraiser to support the defendants that was held at his Bedminster, New Jersey, club.
“They’ve been made to pay a price that is very unfair, in many cases,” he said.
Trump also recorded a video played at the group’s holiday fundraising event in Washington and hosted a dinner for family members of Jan. 6 defendants at Mar-a-Lago in March.
“He is very concerned for these families,” Hughes said after the event.
An Associated Press review of social media posts, voter registrations, court files and other public records found that the mob was overwhelmingly made up of longtime Trump supporters, including GOP officials, donors and far-right militants.
But that hasn’t stopped Trump from falsely claiming that others were responsible for the attack, including antifa and Black Lives Matter. Last weekend on his social media site, Trump amplified messages claiming that Jan. 6 had been a “staged riot” orchestrated by the government.
Trump was still in charge of the government at the time.
Trumps lawyers just left a meeting at the special council office. They were told he will be indicted-Now, its when, how does he surrender and who else is going down.
They got him again, and this time with 6 co-conspirators.
MAGA hatters gonna start another insurrection again, or just gonna talk trash on the internet?
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
Trump charged with 4 counts, knew election lies were false, prosecutors say in indictment
WASHINGTON -- Former President Donald Trump -- already facing two indictments -- now faces a third set of charges after a grand jury handed up a wide-ranging indictment against him, alleging he undertook a "criminal scheme" to undermine the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Prosecutors say the alleged scheme, which allegedly involved six unnamed co-conspirators, included 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.
The six alleged co-conspirators include several attorneys and a Justice Department official.
The sweeping indictment, based on the investigation by special counsel Jack Smith, charges Trump with four felony 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 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.
"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 Trump campaign, responding to the indictment on Trump's Truth Social platform, said, "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. President Trump has always followed the law and the Constitution, with advice from many highly accomplished attorneys."
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.
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.
The former president has been charged with four counts, including conspiracy.
WASHINGTON -- Former President Donald Trump has been indicted in the special counsel's investigation into his alleged plot to overthrow the 2020 election.
Trump has been charged 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.
Wow! The traitor might actually go down this time. If found guilty, I doubt he will be able to run for public office ever again. He should never have held office in the first place. Dude isn’t qualified to be dog catcher, let alone POTUS. Tonight I’m laughing at all those who scoffed and acted like the 6th was no big deal. And I hope this ends up ending the BS MAGA movement and the fascism. But looking at the polls, we’ll be fighting this battle the rest of my life.
Mike Pence statement on Jan. 6th charges against trump.....
“Today’s indictment serves as an important reminder: anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the United States,” Pence wrote in a statement.
“Our country is more important than one man. Our constitution is more important than any one man’s career. On January 6th, Former President Trump demanded that I choose between him and the Constitution. I chose the Constitution and I always will,” he added.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
How the Trump fake electors scheme became a ‘corrupt plan,’ according to the indictment
WASHINGTON (AP) — The role that fake slates of electors played in Donald Trump’s desperate effort to cling to power after his defeat in the 2020 election is at the center of a four-count indictment released against the former president Tuesday.
The third criminal case into Trump details, among other charges, what prosecutors say was a massive and monthslong effort to “impair, obstruct, and defeat” the federal process for certifying the results of a presidential election, culminating in the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The 45-page indictment states that when Trump could not persuade state officials to illegally swing the election in his favor, he and his Republican allies began recruiting a slate of fake electors in seven battleground states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — to sign certificates falsely stating that he, not Democrat Joe Biden, had won their states.
While those certificates were ultimately ignored by lawmakers, federal prosecutors say it was all part of “a corrupt plan to subvert the federal government function by stopping Biden electors’ votes from being counted and certified.”
Here’s a deeper look at how the scheme unfolded, according to the indictment:
FROM ‘LEGAL STRATEGY’ TO ‘CORRUPT PLAN’
The fake electors plan began in Wisconsin, prosecutors allege, with a memorandum from Kenneth Chesebro, an attorney who was assisting the Trump campaign at the time with legal challenges.
Cheseboro wrote the memo in mid-November 2020 that advocated for Trump supporters in Wisconsin to meet and cast their votes for him, in case the campaign’s litigation in the state succeeded.
But less than a month later, “in a sharp departure,” a new memo was issued that called for expanding the strategy to other key states, creating slates of “fraudulent electors” for Trump.
The end goal, according to prosecutors, was “to prevent Biden from receiving the 270 electoral votes necessary to secure the presidency on January 6.”
RECRUITING AND RETAINING FAKE ELECTORS
After the plan was expanded to include six states, Trump and attorney John Eastman asked Ronna McDaniel, the chair of the Republican National Committee, to help the Trump campaign recruit the electors in the targeted states.
The two men, according to prosecutors, “falsely represented” to McDaniel that the electors would only be used if Trump’s lawsuits against the election succeeded. McDaniel agreed to help.
As the Trump electors prepared for a Dec. 14 gathering, when state electors met at respective capitols to certify the electoral results, some had concerns. The fake electors in Pennsylvania told Giuliani and other Trump advisers on a conference call that they had reservations about signing a certificate that would present them as legitimate electors for the state.
Giuliani, according to the indictment, “falsely assured” them that their certificate would only be used if Trump’s litigation succeeded.
But winning in court was never the plan, according to prosecutors.
Chesebro wrote in a Dec. 13 email that the strategy “was not to use the fraudulent electors only in the circumstance that the Defendant’s litigation was successful in one of the targeted states.” Instead, he wrote, “the plan was to falsely present the fraudulent slates as an alternative to the legitimate slates at Congress’s certification proceeding.”
‘CRAZY PLAY’
On the eve of the state certifications, those close to the Trump campaign, including a senior adviser, raised concerns in a group chat about the fake electors plan, prosecutors say. Informed of what was going on, Trump’s deputy campaign manager said the scheme had “morphed into a crazy play.”
A senior adviser to the president, who is not identified, texted, “Certifying illegal votes.” The campaign officials in the chat refused to sign a statement about the plan, because none of them could “stand by it,” the prosecutors allege.
LAST-MINUTE ADDITION
New Mexico, which was not among the key states in the election, was nonetheless tossed into the mix the night before the Dec. 14 gather of electors. Cheseboro, at the request of a Trump campaign staffer, drafted and sent fake certificates to the state for Trump.
The decision came despite there being no pending litigation on Trump’s behalf in New Mexico and the fact that he lost the state by nearly 100,000 votes.
The next day, the Trump campaign filed an election challenge suit in New Mexico, six minutes before the deadline for the electors’ votes, “as a pretext so that there was pending litigation there at the time the fraudulent electors voted,” prosecutors allege.
‘SHAM PROCEEDINGS’
On Dec. 14, 2020, as Democratic electors for Biden in key swing states met at their seat of state government to cast their votes, Republican electors for Trump gathered as well. They signed and submitted false Electoral College certificates declaring Trump the winner of the presidential election in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Those fraudulent certificates were mailed to Congress and the National Archives. Ultimately, only the legitimate election certificates were counted, despite Trump’s effort to create what prosecutors called a “fake controversy.”
JANUARY 6
Trump’s allies in the days before Jan. 6 exerted intense pressure on Vice President Mike Pence, urging to use the fake certificates to justify delaying the certification of the election during the joint session of Congress. One of Trump’s lawyers even suggested that Pence could simply toss out electors and declare Trump the winner.
Time and again, Pence refused, prompting Trump to complain that he was “too honest,” according to the indictment.
Mike Pence statement on Jan. 6th charges against trump.....
“Today’s indictment serves as an important reminder: anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the United States,” Pence wrote in a statement.
“Our country is more important than one man. Our constitution is more important than any one man’s career. On January 6th, Former President Trump demanded that I choose between him and the Constitution. I chose the Constitution and I always will,” he added.
Good for him, and I give him credit for saving our union that day. But where was this comment during all the months in between? Screw Pence.
Let's explore that FACTS about the false claim that the DOJ is being weaponized....
It all started with the January 6th committee. The January 6th committee ended in December of 2022 after 18 months of hearings and testimony. Many witnesses brought forth evidence of the circumstances surrounding Jan. 6th and was convincing enough to cause Liz Cheney who is most certainly not a democrat nor a liberal to conclude this.........
She knew at that moment she was sacrificing her political career by speaking truth to power. She put our nation and the truth above her own political career. Now this was in mid December. It wasn't until November, only one month earlier, after the vast majority of the testimony had already been given that Garland had seen enough come out of the committee to feel it warranted a special counsel to investigate what he had seen in those hearings. Something even the most conservatives of conservatives, Liz Cheney, had reached the very same conclusion of what appeared to be criminal activity.
As such, Garland did everything in his power to show that the DOJ was not going to be directly involved. He appointed a special counsel outside of the DOJ, Jack Smith to lead the investigation. The same Jack Smith who had actually prosecuted democratic officials and a democrat appointed judge in the past. Making it as clear as humanly possible that this investigation would be conducted by a man that was not partisan in his pursuit of the truth.
Of course none of this has stopped trump into leading his minions to believe that somehow "Biden has weaponized the DOJ and the FBI!" The facts as they unfolded and presented themselves show this is nothing but yet another lie being perpetrated by trump and his crime syndicate to turn his voters against anyone who questions him and is even further evidence of just how far he will go to gain power.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Barr says Trump's First Amendment argument in Jan. 6 case is not valid
Bill Barr on Wednesday evening rejected claims by Donald Trump's attorneys that the former president's indictment this week over alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election was an "attack on free speech."
Driving the news: The ex-Trump administration attorney general said on CNN that he probably wouldn't have approved the former president's third indictment as he expressed concerns about the case occurring so close to the 2024 election, but he believes "we're only seeing the tip of the iceberg" and he didn't have a problem with it as a legal matter.
What he's saying: Barr told CNN's Kaitlan Collins the Department of Justice was "not acting to weaponize the department by proceeding against the president for a conspiracy to subvert the electoral process" as Trump and his allies had claimed ahead of the former president's arraignment Thursday in the Jan. 6 indictment — one of three he faces.
He said the argument by Trump attorney John Lauro that the Jan. 6 indictment was an "attack on free speech and political advocacy, and there's nothing that's more protected under the First Amendment than political speech," was not valid. This was because the indictment states that the DOJ was not attacking Trump's First Amendment rights, Barr said.
"He can say whatever he wants. He can even lie. He can even tell people that the election was stolen, when he knew better," Barr said of Trump.
"But that does not protect you from entering into a conspiracy. All conspiracies involve speech, and all fraud involves speech. So, free speech doesn't give you the right to engage in a fraudulent conspiracy."
Not to mention, the commission of slander is based on what you say and not protected speech. Things you say that are considered as defamation of character are not protected speech. As far as I know nothing you say to help aid in the commission of a crime is protected speech.
Yet trump and his minions claim otherwise.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
As with all the other bs theories that trump and his cronies are throwing against the wall, they have already moved on from this to new theories. I have to say, if you listen to enough news talk, the repubs are very choreographed in their rebuttals and throwing crap against the wall and see if it sticks.
As for this going forward, I have a real fear for our democracy. There is no way these cases are not going to get to a verdict by the election with the delays, appeals, etc.
We need to get a verdict by about this time next year-never going to happen.
Also, this trial especially needs to be televised. I know federal trials normally don't allow cameras or live stream, however these trials need to have every detail delivered to the people. Not the watered down partisan hacks that deliver the orders from headquarters from both the left and the right.
Also, why did these charges take so long to come this far? Why wasn't a special counsel named a long time ago?
If this goes to Nov 2024 with no answer, what happened/almost happened in 2020 will be nothing
I certainly can't answer all of your questions but have heard some points made about some of those things I found interesting and seemed to be at least somewhat valid. First it's the "cameras in the court room" issue. It started in 1946 with Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 53. It barred cameras, recording, pictures and other such media electronic recording in federal court rooms. It was revised and tweaked over time but in the end, it still isn't allowed to film a federal criminal trial. Here is a good article involving the topic.
History of Cameras in Courts
The link doesn't work but you can google that title under United States Courts and find it. It's very detailed and gives a complete timeline on the topic.
The reason I think it took so long is this is not an ordinary situation. As we have seen, no matter how they went about it there would be finger pointing that it's all political. So I believe every measure had to be taken to show it wasn't. And those measures were taken. And once again I'll point to the timeline of events.
The January 6th committee had been under way for 17 months. 100's of witnesses had testified. From that testimony there was sufficient evidence that an investigation was more than warranted. I don't believe it left Garland with much of a choice but to investigate under those circumstances. To show that no bias would be involved in the investigation he chose an outside counsel. Someone not affiliated with the DOJ. Smith, who had previously also investigated and prosecuted Democratic officials was chosen to show that he was not partisan when doing that job. But as we can see, none of that seems to make any difference to the trumpians. But when all you do is listen to the rhetoric instead of looking at the facts, you'll have that.
I think that if trump were somehow able to win the presidency in 2024 your timeline makes perfect sense. If he doesn't I don't believe a timeline makes any real difference.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Lol yep new theories from Kevin McCarthy include Hillary’s loss to trump and Gore’s loss to Bush. They did the exact same thing as trump did, and no jail for them.
Trump calls on Supreme Court to ‘intercede’ in legal fights
Former President Trump is calling on the Supreme Court to intercede in the legal battles he is facing after he pleaded not guilty federal to charges related to special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Trump, in a post on Truth Social early Friday, repeated accusations that President Biden is pushing for the cases against him for political purposes. Trump also said the multiple cases against him will require “massive amounts” of time and money and force him to use resources on court battles that could have been used for advertisements and rallies.
“I am leading in all Polls, including against Crooked Joe, but this is not a level playing field. It is Election Interference, & the Supreme Court must intercede. MAGA!” Trump said.
The former president appeared in a Washington, D.C., courtroom Thursday for his arraignment to enter his not guilty plea to the four charges he is facing in the Jan. 6 case.
He has been charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights.
The indictment is the third filed against Trump in the past few months, with the former president already facing charges related to hush-money payments made to porn actress Stormy Daniels and his keeping of classified and sensitive documents at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida after his presidency ended.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and maintained that he is being prosecuted for political purposes because of position as the front-runner for the GOP nomination for president in 2024.
All three of Trump’s criminal cases remain in early stages. Although the disputes could eventually end up at the Supreme Court, such an appeal would not take place until further down the road.
In his hush money case, Trump has begun the appeal process over a ruling that denied Trump’s attempt to move the case to federal court. That dispute is now in the hands of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Biden has repeatedly emphasized the independence of the Justice Department (DOJ) to make its own decisions, while Smith and Attorney General Merrick Garland have defended the integrity of DOJ and FBI staff.
Trump has led by significant margins in the race for the GOP nomination, while hypothetical general election polls have shown Trump and Biden in a tight race.
Sorry dude you’ll need to go through the appeals process like any other US citizen to get to the Supreme Court. Besides their are a couple or three justices that will need to recuse themselves from a case.involving trump.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Thomas Jefferson.
