WASHINGTON -A federal grand jury located in Washington, D.C., charged Donald Trump on Tuesday in a case that alleges Trump and his co-conspirators tried to undermine the 2020 presidential election to keep the previous president in power by committing an array of illegal acts which led to the January. 6 strike at Capitol Hill. U.S. Capitol.
The former president is charged with four charges in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that stem from his actions after the election in November of 2020 and includes fraud conspiracy against in the United States; conspiracy to block an official procedure as well as obstruction of and attempting to hinder an official process and a conspiracy to violate rights.
“Each of these conspiracy theories -that were based on the widespread distrust the defendant was generating by spreading and destabilizing claims about fraud in the electionfocused on a fundamental purpose for the United States federal government: the method of collecting, weighing and declaring the results of presidential elections,” the indictment states.
Attorney General Jack Smith said during a brief speech on Tuesday night that the Trump lies regarding election fraud led to the “unprecedented assault on the foundations of American democracy” on Jan. 6.
“As stated by the indictment the case was fuelled with lies” Smith said. “Lies perpetrated by the defendant are meant to hinder a foundational role in government officials of the U.S. government.”
Smith has said he’ll want a speedy trial to ensure that the evidence prosecutors have been able to test in the courtroom. Smith also said that the investigation of other people, including the six co-conspirators who are not named in the indictment, will continue. He did not take questions.
The indictment outlines Trump’s false claims regarding the results of elections across Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The indictment of 45 pages claims that Trump was aware that his claims about the election were not true. Despite assurances from state officials and officials from the election office that there was no evidence of fraud, Trump continued to say the vote count was favorable to him and conspired with other co-conspirators in order to convince state legislators to invalidate results, as per the indictment.
“Despite losing the election, the defendant was determined to keep his the position of 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 assertions were not true, and the defendant was aware that they were not true,” it reads.
The indictment continues “These massive claims of election fraud comprised numerous specific allegations that there was substantial fraud in some states, like the large number of non-residents, dead and non-citizen voters had cast votes, or that voting machines switched votes cast by the defendant to cast votes in favor of Biden.”
Trump has a lead in the race of Republicans hoping to become the presidential candidate of the Republican Party for the 2024 presidential election. First GOP primary contest is set to take place in the coming months. Republicans mostly rebuffed the indictment and many dismissed the indictment as political.
In a statement released by the campaign of his presidential candidate, Trump claimed that he was not guilty and declared that the charges were to be politically motivated.
“This is just the latest chapter of corruption in the ongoing, pathetic effort of Biden Crime Family and the Biden Crime Family and their weapons-based Department of Justice to interfere in the 2024 presidential election that will determine whether the president Trump is the clear frontrunner and is leading by significant amounts,” an announcement from Trump’s campaign read. Trump presidential campaign said.
The schemes for fake electors
The indictment is focused on plans made by Trump and co-conspirators – four attorneys unidentified and an unnamed U.S. Justice Department official and a political advisorto replace voters in seven states in which Joe Biden in fact won using fraudulent voters who pled to Trump.
Federal prosecutors identified five actions Trump did, which escalated the number of times each attempt failed to produce the desired results.
In the case of indictment Trump and his conspirators have pressed lawmakers and election officials in the key states to shift the results of elections in those states Biden and Biden to Trump.
Trump and his associates crafted fraudulent electoral slates, which they hoped to replace the genuine Biden electors, as per the indictment.
Trump has ordered “sham” U.S. Justice Department investigation into the alleged crimes of election in some states. He also thought of using DOJ officials issue letters detailing some of the concerns regarding the voting in these states. The concerns could later serve as a reason to bolster the fraudulent voters as the indictment states.
Trump and his accomplices demanded vice president Mike Pence to use his ceremonial position to sign off on the results of the elections in January. 6 to verify those who had been fraudulently elected according to the indictment.
When Pence was do not possess the right legal authorization to change the voters, declined to vote, Trump repeated to supporters who were been gathered at Washington that Pence was able to alter the outcome of the election in addition to “directed supporters to go to the Capitol to block the certification process,” the indictment said.
The crowd became violent, Trump and his co-conspirators made use of the chaos to keep making claims of fraud in the election and to try to convince lawmakers in Congress to delay the process according to the prosecution.
False assertions about fraud in elections
Trump “pushed the officials of a few states to disregard the popular vote, deprive millions of voters; disqualify legitimate voters; and, ultimately result in the identification of and the casting of votes by unlegitimate electors to the benefit of the defendant,” the indictment says.
Trump and his accomplices worked to establish fraudulent voters in seven states through “attempting to imitate the rules that legitimate voters were required to follow in the Constitution as well as other state and federal laws,” according to the indictment.
These fake electors in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin met on the same day as legitimate voters voting with fake names to support Trump before signing their certificates, that falsely claimed they were real electors.
“Some fraudulent electors were tricked into participating based on the understanding that their votes would be used only if the Defendant succeeded in outcome-determinative lawsuits within their state, which the Defendant never did,” reads the indictment.
The fake elections certificates were later sent to the vice-president and other government officials to attempt to be counted in lieu of the legitimate voters at the time that Congress was scheduled to meet on January. 6 2021 to confirm the election.
The next morning, an associate of Donald Trump, who isn’t identified in the indictment used a fake elections certifications in Michigan as well as Wisconsin to an unidentified U.S. senator, who was to present them to Pence as per the indictment.
A staffer of Pence has since resisted attempts to transfer those fake electors in the vice-president’s hand, according to the indictment.
The pressure of Trump on Pence
The indictment describes Trump’s efforts in order to “enlist” Pence to alter the outcome of the elections, utilizing Trump and his conspirators’ fraudulent list of voters.
The vice president plays the role of the certifying of the results of presidential elections.
If Pence was unable to convince him of the plan, Trump began rallying supporters to gather support the required number of supporters in Washington, D.C., on the day Pence was scheduled to be the president of the certification, as the indictment says.
The indictment relates the president’s Dec. 19th, 2020 tweet on Twitter on which Trump tweeted “Big demonstration on the streets of D.C. on January 6th. Come on out, it’s going to get wild!”
A few days later on December. 23 Trump published a new memo “Operation PENCE’S CARD” which falsely claimed Pence might disqualify electors from states in which Trump fraudulently claimed fraud in the voting process. The same day, the person identified within the criminal indictment as “co-conspirator 2” identified by his attorney as John Eastman by his attorney sent out a memo describing strategies for Pence to illegally declare Trump as the victor.
The indictment outlines numerous conversations and phone calls in which Trump is able to pressure Pence, the vice president. One of these calls was the phone call made by Pence to send President Trump “Merry Christmas” that quickly changed into Trump demanding Pence to not support elections on Jan. 6.
“‘You know, I don’t think I have the power to alter the outcome”” Pence told Trump, according to the indictment.
The two talked on the telephone again the day before New Year’s Day when Trump “berated” Pence and told Pence, “You’re too honest” following the vice president’s opposition to the suit that sought to grant the president the power to deny or reverse votes to states.
Within a few hours of the phone contact, Trump again took to Twitter to announce the rally. “‘The BIG Protest Rally in Washington, D.C., will be held at 11:00 A.M. on January 6th. Details about the location (sic) information to follow. StopTheSteal !,'” as per the indictment.
The campaign of pressure continued throughout the first days of January, with the meeting of January. 4. Trump as well as “co-conspirator 2” attempted to convince Pence the chief of staff, and his legal counsel that Pence should either reject or return to the states that Biden’s legitimate elections.
The notes of Pence from the meeting reveal Trump’s false claims that the president “won every state with thousands in votes” According to indictment.
Despite the acknowledgment of each “co-conspirator 2” and Trump’s top advisor that the plan could not be able to stand in the courts, Trump ordered a second meeting on Jan. 5 between the Pence team and Eastman.
Each time Trump’s top advisor and Pence’s counsel expressed concerns about “riots in the streets” and of the “disastrous scenario” in which the election could “have the option of being decided on public.”
Additionally, on Jan. 5 Trump also met with Pence by himself and warned Pence that Pence “would have to make public comments about Pence,” the indictment states. The chief of staff for Pence concerned about the safety of the vice president was alerted by the vice president’s Secret Service detail.
When Trump’s supporters gathered in the Ellipse on January. 6 the president of the day stated to them “I I hope Mike will take the right decision. I’m sure he will. I’m sure of it. Since If Mike Pence does the right decision, we’ll win the election.” the recount of the indictment.
Trump continued to excite the crowd by falsely claiming they were being told by the Pennsylvania Legislature would like “to renew their vote.”
“But there is only one way this could be accomplished is when Mike Pence agrees to send the item the item back” the president told reporters.
They began to begin to chant “send this back.”
Trump continued by telling that the audience “we fight with a vengeance. If there’s no way to fight the good fight and fight like hell, you’re not going have a country any more.”
“During and following the defendant’s remarks hundreds of people marched towards the Capitol,” the indictment says.
Third indictment of Trump
The allegations are based on conclusions The U.S. House Select Committee to investigate the January 6, 2021 Attack on the U.S. Capitol came to after its two-year investigation.
The Democratic-led committee put Trump as the main target of the attack, claiming his and his closest allies consistently lying regarding the election as well as the assertion of conspiracy theories prompted the insurrection with arms.
It was the U.S. House, then under Democratic control, impeached Trump in the last moments of his presidency, for provoking the assault. The majority of U.S. Senate — 77% of the senators, 57 Republicans — decided to convict him however, they fell short of the required two-thirds majority for conviction.
The indictment marks the third time for Trump this year.
The former president is also subject to legal charges within New York state,where the former president is accused of falsifying documents for business purposes by utilizing campaign funds to conceal an affair, as well as before a federal judge in Florida in connection with claims that he kept classified papers after he left the office.
He has been found not guilty in two other instances.
A massive Georgia investigation into the 2020 election could also result in prominent criminal indictments handed down against Trump and others, as well as other defendants within Fulton County Superior Court.
