By ERIC TUCKER
Donald Trump has been formally charged in an investigation by the Justice Department into his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, culminating in the violent Capitol riot carried out by his supporters.
The charges against Trump include conspiracy to defraud the United States government and witness tampering.
This is the third criminal case against the former president, who has expressed his intention to run for the White House again in 2024. The indictment follows a lengthy federal investigation into Trump and his allies’ efforts to subvert the peaceful transition of power and maintain his presidency despite losing decisively to Joe Biden.
The allegations in Tuesday’s criminal case are particularly shocking, as they portray a former president attacking the foundations of democracy in a desperate and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to hold onto power.
Federal prosecutors claim that Trump was “determined to remain in power” through conspiracies that directly targeted the core function of the U.S. government: the collection, counting, and certification of presidential election results.
Trump is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday before U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan.
The criminal charges against Trump come at a time when he is leading the pack of Republicans competing for the party’s presidential nomination. They are likely to be dismissed by Trump and his supporters, as well as some of his opponents, as politically motivated prosecutions. However, these charges are rooted in one of the most serious threats to American democracy in recent history.
The charges specifically focus on the turbulent two-month period after the November 2020 election, during which Trump refused to accept his loss and propagated falsehoods about the election being stolen from him. This period culminated in the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, where Trump loyalists breached the building, assaulted police officers, and disrupted the certification of electoral votes.
During this time, Trump pressured local election officials to overturn election results in their states, urged Vice President Mike Pence to block the certification of electoral votes, and baselessly claimed that the election had been stolen—a notion repeatedly rejected by judges.
The indictment had been anticipated since Trump publicly stated in mid-July that the Justice Department had informed him he was a target of their investigation into the January 6th events. The House committee that conducted a bipartisan investigation into the Capitol riot also recommended criminal charges against Trump, including charges related to insurrection and obstructing an official proceeding.
These mounting criminal cases against Trump, along with numerous civil cases, are unfolding in the midst of the 2024 presidential race. It is important to note that a conviction in any of these cases would not prevent Trump from running for or serving as president.
In addition to the cases in Washington, Trump also faces charges in New York for falsifying business records related to a hush money payment made to a porn actor before the 2016 election. The trial for this case is scheduled to begin in late March.
The Justice Department has also brought over three dozen felony counts against Trump in Florida, accusing him of illegally possessing classified documents after leaving the White House and concealing them from the government. The trial for this case is set to start in late May.
The most recent federal indictment against Trump focuses primarily on his actions in Washington, and the trial will be held there, in a courthouse situated between the former White House and the Capitol. A trial date has not yet been established.
Meanwhile, prosecutors in Georgia are investigating Trump and his allies’ attempts to overturn the 2020 election results in that state. The district attorney of Fulton County is expected to announce whether or not the former president will be indicted in early August.
The investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the election was led by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith. Smith and his team of prosecutors have presented evidence to a grand jury in Washington, including questioning top officials from the Trump administration and Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who voluntarily cooperated with prosecutors.
Election officials from various states, including Georgia, Wisconsin, and Michigan, who faced pressure from Trump and his associates to change election results, were also interviewed by prosecutors.
The Justice Department’s investigation into election interference began before the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith and ran parallel to the investigations into the January 6th rioters. To date, over 1,000 individuals have been charged in connection with the Capitol insurrection, including some charged with seditious conspiracy.
Contributions to this report were made by Colleen Long, Zeke Miller, Lindsay Whitehurst, and Michael Kunzelman from the Associated Press in Washington.
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