Former President Trump has been indicted yet again in connection with his efforts to overturn the 2020 election – following a federal investigation into his attempts to cling to power after losing the presidency.
The indictment, filed by the special counsel Jack Smith in Federal District Court in Washington, accuses Mr. Trump of four conspiracies:
Conspiracy to:
- defraud the United States –
- obstruct an official government proceeding, the certification of the Electoral College vote
- deprive people of a civil right, the right to have their votes counted-
- obstructing or attempting to obstruct an official proceeding.
The charge against Trump also details the various methods that he and six co-conspirators – used to try to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and adds, 2 further counts, related to illegal efforts to obstruct the vote certification proceedings – related to his attempts to reverse election results in specified States.
He also now faces two additional charges regarding the vote certification proceedings at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021: one of obstructing that process and one of conspiring to do so, and conspiracy to violate civil rights.
These are in addition to the ‘Incitement of an uprising’ as filed earlier.
In sweeping terms, the indictment described how the former President and six co-conspirators employed a variety of means to reverse his defeat in the election, almost from the moment that voting finished – it was, obviously. planned in advance – evidenced by statements he made, even before the vote started.
It depicted how Trump promoted false claims of fraud, sought to bend the Justice Department toward supporting those claims and oversaw a scheme to create false slates of electors pledged to him in states that were actually won by Joe Biden , and it described how he ultimately pressured his vice president, Mike Pence, to use the fake electors to subvert the certification of the election at a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, that was cut short by the violence at the Capitol.
The indictment did not name the alleged co-conspirators, but the descriptions of their behaviour match publicly known episodes involving prominent people around Mr. Trump.
It’s unclear whether any or all of these co-conspirators will be indicted or whether they now have a period in which there’s an opportunity for them to decide to cooperate with prosecutors.
Before this, there was a total of 72 criminal carges against Trump –
there are now a total of 80 – and counting !