Trump hit with sweeping indictment in alleged effort to overturn 2020 election
Last edited Tue Aug 1, 2023, 08:04 PM - Edit history (4)
Source: ABC News
Former President Donald Trump, bent on staying in power, undertook a sweeping "criminal scheme" to overturn the results of the 2020 election, including repeatedly pushing lies about the results despite knowing his claims were false, and doubling down on those falsehoods as the Jan. 6 riot raged, a sweeping federal indictment alleges.
This is the third indictment faced by the former president, who -- as the Republican frontrunner in the 2024 presidential race -- continues to insist that the vote was rigged.
Prosecutors say the alleged scheme, which they say involved six unnamed co-conspirators, included enlisting a slate of so-called "fake electors" targeting several states; using the Justice Department to conduct "sham election crime investigations"; enlisting the vice president to "alter the election results"; and doubling down on false claims as the Jan. 6 riot ensued -- all in an effort to subvert democracy and stay in power.
The six alleged co-conspirators include several attorneys and a Justice Department official. The sweeping indictment, based on the investigation by special counsel Jack Smith, charges Trump with four felony counts: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.
Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-indicted-charges-related-efforts-overturn-2020-election/story?id=101612810
LINK TO INDICTMENT - https://www.scribd.com/document/662462402/Trump-Indictment#
(PDF) - https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23893878/trump-dc-indictment.pdf
Article updated.
Previous article/headlines -
Prosecutors say the alleged scheme, which allegedly involved six unnamed co-conspirators, included enlisting a slate of so-called "fake electors" targeting several states, using the Justice Department to conduct "sham election crime investigations," enlisting the vice president to "alter the election results." and doubling down on false claims as the Jan. 6 riot ensued.
The six alleged co-conspirators include several attorneys and a Justice Department official. The sweeping indictment, based on the investigation by special counsel Jack Smith, charges Trump with four felony counts: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.
The indictment alleges that Trump knew that the claims he advanced about the election, specifically in Arizona and Georgia, were false -- yet he repeated them for months. "Despite having lost, the Defendant was determined to remain in 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."
The alleged conspiracies include enlisting a slate of so-called "fake electors" targeting several states, using the Justice Department to conduct "sham election crime investigations," enlisting the vice president to "alter the election results." and doubling down on false claims as the Jan. 6 riot ensued.
The indictment alleges that Trump knew that the claims he advanced about the election, specifically in Arizona and Georgia, were false -- yet he repeated them for months. There are also six unnamed co-conspirators, including multiple attorneys and a Justice Department official.
"Despite having lost, the Defendant was determined to remain in 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."
Former President Donald Trump has been indicted on charges related to special counsel Jack Smith's probe into efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump has been charged with four counts: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. There are also six unnamed co-conspirators.
It marks the third time the former president has been indicted on criminal charges, following his indictment last month in the special counsel's probe into his handling of classified materials after leaving office, and his indictment in April on New York state charges of falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Trump, who has decried the probes as political witch hunts, pleaded not guilty to all charges in both those cases. In the history of the country, no president or former president had ever been indicted prior to Trump's first indictment in April.
Original article/headline -
Former President Donald Trump has been indicted on charges related to special counsel Jack Smith's probe into efforts to overturn the 2020 election, sources with direct knowledge tell ABC News.
It marks the third time the former president has been indicted on criminal charges, following his indictment last month in the special counsel's probe into his handling of classified materials after leaving office, and his indictment in April on New York state charges of falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Trump, who has decried the probes as political witch hunts, pleaded not guilty to all charges in both those cases. In the history of the country, no president or former president had ever been indicted prior to Trump's first indictment in April.
Trump was informed by Smith on July 16 that he was a target in the election probe, in a letter that sources said mentioned three federal statutes: conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud the United States, deprivation of rights under a civil rights statute, and tampering with a witness, victim or an informant.
= new reply since forum marked as read
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J6 2020! 
...since Nixon announced his resignation! (almost 49 years (to the day) ago!) - - - 
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BTW, LOVE Jill Wine-Bank's pin!! - - - 
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Save me the search
On April 26, 2019, Chutkan sentenced Maria Butina to 18 months in prison for conspiring to be an unregistered agent of the Russian government in the United States.[25][26]
On November 9, 2021, Chutkan denied former President Donald Trump's plea to keep records from being released to the House Select Committee investigating the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.[31][32] The D.C. Circuit affirmed that decision, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined review.[33]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanya_S._Chutkan
When Jack Smith focuses on speed, he's got the right DC federal judge! I'm going with Jill Wine Banks, who thinks the trial will start in November.
She handled that Russian NRA-hugging spy Maria Butina! 
Thank you for that additional background info! 
defendants to sentences longer than the government had requested!
She won't entertain delay, will turn down motions, will overrule objections from defense, and will give strong instructions to the Jan 6 jury. She KNOWS what she's about.
can give a mean side eye.
(Rachel is actually ticking off some things about her now as I post)
is parroting Jan Brady. 
Why doesn't anyone tell him?
Go get him! Flight risk! LOCK HIS TRAITOROUS ASS UP! 
Jail him until trial..
Today is a great day for the country. Glad to see the rule of law in action, finally
Thanks SergeStorms
I hope for many, many more birthdays for you.
"Former President Donald Trump has been indicted on charges related to special counsel Jack Smith's probe into efforts to overturn the 2020 election, sources with direct knowledge tell ABC News."
I've started celebrating with gin and tonic already!!!!!
This was copied from DU:
New York Attorney General Letitia James' office says it is ready to proceed with a trial stemming from its $250 million lawsuit claiming former President Donald Trump, two of his children and his company engaged in widespread fraud. "The case is ready for trial," wrote Kevin Wallace, senior enforcement counsel for the office, in a filing Monday.
Poor old Trump!!! Everyone is piling on!!! And DA Willis in Georgia is just waiting for the dust to die down then SHE'S GOING TO KICK HIS ASS!!!!
. . . would be for Melania to sue the sonofabitch for divorce!!!!! 
mea culpas at the door....
Yes, indictments aren't convictions, but many here claimed that he would never be charged...
I'm sure you are happy to have been wrong on that.
'seems like it'
or at least consider trying to do so (after experiencing what happens when they don't).
And let me just say this - there is a lot of misinformation going around that suggests that "nothing" was going on in DOJ related to this aspect of the J6 investigation "until Jack Smith was appointed" (and I'm not even counting anything to do with the actual rioters). That is simply false.
What Jack Smith needed to do was to coordinate all the work that had already been done and was ongoing across multiple jurisdictions, and then bring some coherence to what would finally be presented for multiple grand juries. I.e., quite a bit of legwork was in the bag before he came in. In fact he was somewhat delayed because he had supposedly been involved in a cycling accident overseas and was recovering from surgery.
ETA as a note too - in January 2021 after Biden was inaugurated, the 93 U.S. Attorneys who would be the ones working on these J6 cases, including the Big Kahuna ones, were ALL 45 APPOINTEES. NONE were Biden appointees on January 20, 2021. There are still a pile who are in the process of being replaced and are going through confirmation hearings.
And remember, there was no "Jack Smith" yet when the search and seizure happened at Mar-a-Lago, which occurred in August of 2022 (Smith came on board in November 2022), and that was after they had already been working with NARA on the classified documents aspect once NARA did their referral early in 2022 because like all federal agencies, they have their own "process" that they go through before seeking DOJ's help to enforce their process through the courts (subpoenas, search warrants, seizures, injunctions, etc).
Also in the convoluted timeline, remember that the J6 Committee didn't actually come into being until July 1st 2001 and they didn't hold any hearings except one in 2021 covering the LEO response, with the next one not happening almost a year later on June 9, 2022.
I'm not pooh-poohing what the J6 Committee did because it was extraordinary and done by a group who were comprised of and advised by some of the best legal minds in the country, but who had a staff working behind the scenes able to put together a remarkable and historic narrative of what happened TO CONGRESS on January 6, 2021.
I.e., the "insurrection" and damage was inflicted ON CONGRESS, NOT on the Executive Branch, so it behooves that regardless of what the Executive does, they (Congress) must investigate what happened themselves! No one broke into the White House to trash it. They broken into the U.S. Capitol.
And with respect to your question about the lawyers - most of them are already undergoing Board hearings to revoke their licenses or at least impose sanctions and/or some kind of penalty, so by the time this case gets to trial, it will probably already be a done deal!
