Former US President Donald Trump indicted on Tuesday for attempting to overturn the 2020 election. He faces criminal charges while campaigning to regain the presidency next year and this marks his third indictment in four months.
Trump has been charged with:
- Conspiracy to defraud the United States
- Conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding
- Obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding
- Conspiracy against rights
Accordingly, Trump has been asked to appear in the federal court in Washington on Thursday. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan.
Special Counsel Jack Smith’s extensive investigation focuses on allegations that Trump attempted to overturn his loss to Biden. On January 6, 2021, following weeks of claims of election fraud, Trump delivered a fiery speech while Congress met to certify the results. Subsequently, his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to prevent the formalization of Biden’s victory.
“The attack on our nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy. As described in the indictment, it was fueled by lies – lies by the defendant, targeted at obstructing the bedrock function of the U.S. government,” Smith said as reported by Reuters.
Meanwhile, the indictment said Trump and others organized fraudulent slates of electors in seven states, all of which he lost, to submit their votes to be counted and certified as official by Congress on Jan. 6.
The indictment lays out numerous examples of Trump’s election falsehoods and notes that close advisers, including senior intelligence officials, told him repeatedly that the election results were legitimate.
“These claims were false, and the defendant knew that they were false,” prosecutors wrote.
Trump, 77, leads a crowded field of Republican presidential candidates as he seeks a rematch with Biden, 80, next year.
(With inputs from BBC and Reuters)
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Updated: 02 Aug 2023, 06:33 AM IST
