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6h ago
02.45 BST
Recap
Here’s what
you need to know.
Trump faces four charges
The former
president is accused of conspiring to defraud the United States government,
conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding, conspiring against rights, and
obstruction and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding.
In the
45-page indictment, prosecutors laid out their case in stark detail, alleging
Trump knowingly spread false allegations about fraud, convened false slates of
electors and attempted to block the certification of the election on January 6.
The former president was “determined to remain in
power”
Federal
prosecutors said Trump was “determined to remain in power”. Prosecutors said
that for two months after his election loss, Trump spread lies to create an
“intense national atmosphere of mistrust and anger” and “erode public faith in
the administration of the election”. They cited an example in Georgia, where
Trump claimed more than 10,000 dead people voted in four days even after the
state’s top elections official told him that was not true.
There are six un-indicted co-conspirators
The
indictment included six un-indicted co-conspirators as part of Smith’s inquiry,
including four unnamed attorneys who allegedly aided Trump in his effort to
subvert the 2020 election results, as well as an unnamed justice department
official and an unnamed political consultant.
While
unnamed in the document, the details in the indictment indicate that those
people include Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman and Jeff Clark, a former Department
of Justice employee.
The special counsel wants a speedy trial
It’s
unclear yet when the case will go to trial, but Jack Smith said his office will
seek speedy proceedings.
“I must
emphasize that the indictment is only an allegation and that the defendant must
be presumed innocent until proven guilty, beyond a reasonable doubt, in a court
of law,” Smith said in a press conference on Tuesday.
Trump is
looking at a complicated calendar for 2024. The former president’s trial in New
York on criminal charges over hush money payments to the porn star Stormy
Daniels will begin in March 2024. His criminal trial in Florida for retaining
national security documents at his Mar-a-Lago property and obstructing the
justice department’s efforts to retrieve them will take place in May 2024. The
Iowa caucuses, the opening salvo in the Republican race for the 2024
presidential nomination, are scheduled to take place in January.
Indictments won’t disqualify Trump from office
Trump’s
indictments will not bar him from seeking the presidency again, nor will any
conviction.
However, it
would be highly unusual for a thrice-indicted candidate to win the Republican
presidential nomination. The only other presidential nominee to run under
indictment in recent history is former Texas governor Rick Perry, who sought
the 2016 Republican nomination after he was indicted for abuse of power.
Another candidate, socialist party candidate Eugene Debs ran while imprisoned.
Trump’s indictment follows a path that the House
January 6 committee laid.
The
congressional panel, which was created to investigate the January 6
insurrection, concluded last December recommending criminal charges. In public
hearings, some held at prime time, the investigators aired dramatic and damning
footage, making the case that Trump “was directly responsible for summoning
what became a violent mob” despite understanding that he’d lost the election.
The justice
department received what the committee had uncovered, but conducted its own
interviews and using its authority to gain key evidence that wasn’t easily
accessible to Congress. The final charges against Trump include ones that the
committee had recommended, including conspiracy to defraud the United States.
– Léonie
Chao-Fong and Maanvi Singh
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