Former President Donald J. Trump has been indicted by a grand jury of everyday Americans on four federal felony counts as part of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into efforts around the 2020 election and January 6 to seize and hold power, stop the peaceful transfer of the presidency to Joe Biden, and subvert the will of American voters.
This is a profoundly sad and consequential day for the United States. It is utterly disturbing for any American – especially a former president who at the time served the highest office in the land – to be accused of committing any and all crimes that the Special Counsel announced today. The 2020 and 2022 elections have demonstrated how remarkably fragile as well as resilient American election systems are from nefarious conspiracy theories and false election claims. And two years since the attack on January 6, threats to our freedom to vote persist – we must remain vigilant. Accountability is a crucial component in safeguarding American democracy. To ensure that no one, not even former presidents, is treated as above the law, criminal proceedings must be allowed to continue fairly and peacefully.
What We Know To Date: 2020 Election Investigations Into Former President Trump And Allies
1. Office Of Special Counsel – Justice Department:
After conducting the “largest investigation in [the Justice of Department’s] history”, interviewing dozens of witnesses – including some that the Select Committee on January 6 could not like former Vice President Mike Pence, Special Counsel investigators have:
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Charged former President Trump with the following felonies:
1. Conspiracy to defraud the United States
2. Conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding
3. Obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding
4. Conspiracy against the right to vote and have one’s vote counted
- Listed six unnamed co-conspirators in the unsealed indictment.
As Special Counsel Smith said today: “The attack on our nation’s capitol on January 6th, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy. As described in the indictment, it was fueled by lies.”
2. The House Select Committee On January 6:
The Select Committee on January 6 conducted a 18-month long thorough investigation, which by the start of 2022 included more than 35,000 documents – ballooning to more than 125,000 documents later in the spring, and more than 1,000 interviews as of June 2022. As part of its 10 hearings and business meetings, the Committee notably featured live and/or videotaped testimony from 55 Republican witnesses who either cooperated or were compelled to testify – out of 86 total.
The Select Committee concluded in its final report and summary of findings:
- There was “a multi-part plan to overturn the 2020 Presidential election” and examination of the evidence leads “to an overriding and straight-forward conclusion: the central cause of January 6th was one man, former President Donald Trump, who many others followed. None of the events of January 6th would have happened without him.”
And the Committee – as part of its public hearings and final report – outlined actions “taken in support of a multi-part conspiracy to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 Presidential election”:
- The Big Lie: “President Trump engaged in a massive effort to spread false and fraudulent information to the American public claiming the 2020 election was stolen from him.”
- “I Just Want To Find 11,780 Votes”: “President Trump corruptly pressured state election officials, and state legislators, to change election results.”
- Fake Electors And The “President Of The Senate Strategy”: “President Trump’s legal team and other Trump associates instructed Republicans in multiple states to create false electoral slates and transmit those slates to Congress and the National Archives.”
- “Just Call It Corrupt And Leave The Rest To Me”: “President Trump corruptly planned to replace the Acting Attorney General, so that the Department of Justice would support his fake election claims.”
- “A Coup In Search Of A Legal Theory”: “President Trump corruptly pressured Vice President Pence to refuse to count certified electoral votes in violation of the US Constitution and the law.”
- “Be There, Will Be Wild!”: “President Trump summoned and assembled a violent mob in Washington and directed them to march on the US Capitol.”
- 187 Minutes Of Dereliction: “As the violence was underway, President Trump ignored multiple pleas for assistance and failed to take immediate action to stop the violence and instruct his supporters to leave the Capitol.”
3. Office Of Fulton County, GA District Attorney Fani Willis:
After the Fulton County Special Purpose Grand Jury heard from or issued subpoenas to at least 60 witnesses, it submitted in January 2023 its final report to District Attorney Fani Willis.
- In May 2023, DA Willis sent a letter to Fulton County officials requesting that “judges not schedule trials and in-person hearings during the weeks beginning Monday, Aug. 7 and Monday, Aug. 14” – a move that many believe indicates when indictment decisions may be announced. Willis also has alerted law enforcement through a notice letter that the announcement “may provoke a significant reaction.”
4. Notable State-Level Investigations:
- In July 2023, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel charged 16 people for falsely claiming in signed documents that Donald Trump won the 2020 election and that they were presidential electors – notably the first felony charges against “fake” electors.
- Also in Michigan, Special Prosecutor D.J. Hilson has been investigating an alleged conspiracy to seize voting machines in the state.
- And we learned in July 2023 that the Arizona Attorney General’s Office has been investigating the “fake” electors scheme in the state as well as the Maricopa County ballots “audit”.
5. U.S. District Court Judge David Carter Of California:
In March 2022, U.S. District Court Judge David Carter of California wrote in opinion for case pertaining to whether certain evidence should be shared with the January 6 Select Committee:
- “Based on the evidence, the Court finds it more likely than not that President Trump corruptly attempted to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021”.
