Trump Indicted On Four Criminal Counts In Jan. 6 Conspiracy To Overturn 2020 Election

On Tuesday, Special Counsel Jack Smith indicted Donald Trump for his involvement in the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, and the conspiracy that led up to it.

Last week, the former president announced that he received a target letter from Smith, notifying him that he was a subject in the investigation into false election fraud claims and the subsequent insurrection. Smith has been leading the inquiry into whether Trump and his allies interfered with the peaceful transition of power in 2020.

Trump has been charged on four counts: conspiracy to defraud the United States by “using dishonesty, fraud and deceit to obstruct the nation’s process of collecting, counting and certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election”; conspiracy to impede the January 6 congressional proceeding; conspiracy against the right to vote and have that vote counted; and obstruction of, and attempt to obstruct and impede, the certification of the electoral vote.

The charges total a maximum prison sentence of 55 years.

“These claims were false, and the Defendant knew that they were false,” stated the indictment about Trump’s conspiracies of election fraud. “In fact, the Defendant was notified repeatedly that his claims were untrue — often by the people on whom he relied for candid advice on important matters, and who were best positioned to know the facts — and he deliberately disregarded the truth.”

This marks the second indictment that Smith has handed Trump within the past few months. In June, he charged Trump on 37 counts for willful retention of national security information, as well as conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements to FBI officials. Trump was arrested and arraigned at the Miami federal courthouse, where he pleaded not guilty. The trial for this case is set to start in December.

Trump is the first former president in the nation’s history to be charged with federal crimes after leaving office. He is currently the Republican frontrunner for the 2024 election, though his ability to remain in the race has been questioned.

Tuesday’s indictment also noted six unnamed co-conspirators, none of whom have been charged.

Trump will appear for his arraignment at the D.C. district courthouse on August 3. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama and is the only federal judge in the district who has sentenced January 6 defendants to longer prison time than requested by the government.