WASHINGTON: Donald Trump was indicted on Tuesday for his wide-ranging attempts to overturn the 2020 election, the third time in four months that the former U.S. president has been criminally charged even as he campaigns to regain the presidency next year.
The four-count, 45-page indictment charges Republican Trump with conspiring to defraud the U.S. by preventing Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden's victory and to deprive voters of their right to a fair election.
Then-President Trump pushed fraud claims he knew to be untrue, pressured state and federal officials - including Vice President Mike Pence - to alter the results and finally incited a violent assault on the U.S. Capitol in a desperate attempt to undermine American democracy and cling to power, prosecutors said.
Trump was ordered to make an initial appearance in federal court in Washington on Thursday. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who was appointed by Trump's predecessor Barack Obama.
The charges stem from Special Counsel Jack Smith's sprawling investigation into allegations Trump sought to reverse his loss to Biden. Despite a dizzying and growing array of legal troubles, Trump has solidified his status as the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, according to public opinion polls.
Weeks of assertions that the election had been stolen culminated in a fiery Trump speech on Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress met to certify the results. Soon after, his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in a bid to stop Congress from formalizing Biden's victory.
In a brief statement to reporters, Smith placed the blame for the violence squarely on Trump's shoulders.
"The attack on our nation's Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy. As described in the indictment, it was fueled by lies - lies by the defendant, targeted at obstructing the bedrock function of the U.S. government," Smith said.
More than 1,000 people have been arrested in connection with the attack.
PHONY SLATE OF ELECTORS
Trump and others organized fraudulent slates of electors in seven states, all of which he lost, to be certified as official by Congress on Jan. 6, the indictment said.
The indictment lays out numerous examples of Trump's election falsehoods and notes that close advisers, including senior intelligence officials, told him repeatedly that the results were legitimate.
"These claims were false, and the defendant knew that they were false," prosecutors wrote.
When the push to certify the fake electors failed, Trump sought to pressure Vice President Mike Pence not to allow certification of the election to go forward, and took advantage of the chaos outside the Capitol to do so, according to prosecutors. During the violence, Trump rebuffed calls from his advisers to issue a calming message.
"The Defendant attempted to use a crowd of supporters that he had gathered in Washington, D.C. to pressure the Vice President to fraudulently alter the election results," the indictment reads.
In a statement, the Trump campaign said he had always followed the law and characterized the indictment as a "persecution" reminiscent of Nazi Germany.
"President Trump will not be deterred by disgraceful and unprecedented political targeting!" it added. Later Tuesday, Trump's campaign sent out a fundraising email referencing the indictment.
The indictment also includes six unnamed co-conspirators who have not been charged.
Based on the descriptions, they appear to include Trump's former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who called state lawmakers in the weeks following the 2020 election to pressure them not to certify their states' results; former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, who tried to get himself installed as attorney general so he could launch voter fraud investigations in Georgia and other swing states; and attorney John Eastman, who advanced the erroneous legal theory that Pence could block the electoral certification.
"Every statement that Mayor Giuliani made was truthful and expressing his beliefs," his attorney Robert Costello told Reuters. "He believed there was proof of election fraud, and I have seen the affidavits that back that up."
Eastman lawyer Charles Burnham said in an email the indictment used a "misleading presentation of the record to contrive criminal charges against Presidential candidate Trump and to cast ominous aspersions on his close advisors."
Clark did not respond to requests for comment.
The most serious charge against Trump carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, though sentencing is based on numerous factors and is subject to the judge's discretion.
MOUNTING LEGAL WOES
Trump already had become the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges. He has portrayed all of the prosecutions as part of a politically motivated witch hunt aimed at preventing his return to power.
Tuesday's charges represent a second round of federal charges by Smith, who was appointed special counsel in November by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Trump pleaded not guilty after a federal grand jury in Miami convened by the special counsel charged him in June in a 37-count indictment over his unlawful retention of classified government documents after leaving office in 2021 and obstructing justice. Prosecutors accused him of risking some of the most sensitive U.S. national security secrets.
Last Thursday, prosecutors added three more criminal counts against Trump, accusing him of ordering employees to delete security videos as he was under investigation for retaining the documents.
In March, a grand jury convened by Manhattan's district attorney indicted him for falsifying business records to hide hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she said she had with him. Trump pleaded not guilty and has denied the encounter.
TRUMP IS 2024 REPUBLICAN FRONT-RUNNER
Trump, 77, leads a crowded field of Republican presidential candidates as he seeks a rematch with Biden, 80, next year.
Trump, who served as president from 2017 to 2021, has shown an ability to survive legal troubles, political controversies and personal behavior that might sink other politicians. Many Republicans - elected officials and voters - have rallied behind Trump, portraying the charges against him as selective prosecution and a Democratic plot to destroy him politically.
That pattern largely held on Tuesday, as most Republicans pivoted to attacks on Biden. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the top Republican in Congress, said on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, that the indictment was an attempt to "attack the frontrunner for the Republican nomination."
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Trump's leading rival for the Republican nomination, said on X that he had yet to read the indictment. But he vowed to "end the weaponization of the federal government," suggesting that the Biden administration was using the charges to target a political enemy.
Strategists said that while the indictments could help Trump solidify support within his base and win the Republican nomination, his ability to capitalize on them may be more limited in next year's general election, when he will have to win over more skeptical moderate Republicans and independents.
Meanwhile, Trump's legal woes are growing. In addition to the three indictments, Trump faces a fourth criminal investigation by a county prosecutor in Georgia into accusations he sought to undo his 2020 election loss in that state.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has indicated she plans to bring charges in that case within the next three weeks.
Special counsels are sometimes appointed to investigate politically sensitive cases, and they do their jobs with a degree of independence from the Justice Department leadership.
Before being appointed by Garland to take over the two Trump-related investigations, Smith had served as the chief prosecutor for the special court in The Hague, assigned to prosecuting war crimes in Kosovo, oversaw the Justice Department's public integrity section and worked as a federal and state prosecutor in New York.
Reuters
Wed Aug 02 2023
The indictment charges Donald Trump with conspiring to defraud the U.S. by preventing Congress from certifying Joe Biden's victory and to deprive voters of their right to a fair election. - REUTERS/Filepic
Piala Asia B-23: Indonesia tekad roboh benteng kebal Uzbekistan
Bintang skuad Garuda Muda, Witan Sulaeman, teruja dengan peluang untuk melakar lebih banyak sejarah ketika membuat persiapan menghadapi aksi separuh akhir PIala Asia B-23 malam ini.
Airbus RACER helikopter terpantas dunia?
Ketika masih dikenali sebagai pesawat eksperimen X3, ia memegang rekod sebagai helikopter terpantas dengan kelajuan mencecah 472 km/j.
AWANI Ringkas: Letupan bom di Thailand | Hadapi dua pertuduhan
Ikuti rangkuman berita utama yang menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari di Astro AWANI menerusi AWANI Ringkas.
Mesyuarat Khas WEF: Tekanan politik dalaman punca Israel ‘menggila’ - PM Jordan, Mesir
Kedua-dua perdana menteri negara Asia Barat itu setuju serangan ketenteraan di Rafah hanya akan memburukkan keadaan yang sudah sedia meruncing.
Tingkat kawalan di sempadan tangani kemasukan kambing, lembu murah menjelang Aidiladha
KPKM meminta jabatan dan agensi kerajaan berkaitan kawalan sempadan memperhebat penguatkuasaan serta kawalan di pintu masuk negara bagi menangani kemasukan kambing dan lembu murah menjelang Aidiladha.
Liga-M: Kelantan beri jaminan akan selesai isu kemudahan Stadium Sultan Muhammad IV
Isu itu mendapat perhatian daripada penyokong bola sepak Kelantan ketika perlawanan pramusim Kelantan Darul Naim FC (KDNFC) minggu lepas.
Mahkamah tolak permohonan pemilik akaun media sosial mulakan semakan kehakiman
Mahkamah Tinggi menolak permohonan pemilik akaun media sosial untuk mendapatkan kebenaran bagi memulakan prosiding semakan kehakiman terhadap MCMC.
KOM beri tiga atlet kebebasan pilih SUKMA atau kejohanan dunia
KOM memberi kebebasan kepada tiga atlet muda kebangsaan, untuk memilih sama ada mewakili negeri ke SUKMA atau menyahut cabaran negara pada Kejohanan Olahraga Dunia Bawah 20 tahun (B-20) 2024.
Anggota polis didakwa terima rasuah beri tembakau kepada tahanan lokap
Seorang anggota polis berpangkat koperal berhadapan dua pertuduhan menerima rasuah sebagai balasan membawa masuk barang terlarang kepada tahanan lokap.
SPRM sahkan tiada penyelewengan, rasuah dikesan dalam projek NTC setakat ini
SPRM mengesahkan tidak menemui sebarang penyelewengan serta rasuah setakat ini berhubung cadangan projek pembinaan National Training Center (NTC) di Putrajaya yang dianggar bernilai RM25 juta.
Biden rancang untuk berdebat dengan Trump
Sebelum ini, Biden tidak komited untuk berdebat dengan lawannya, Trump.
Lelaki bertindak bakar diri di luar mahkamah New York
Max Azzarello yang berasal dari St. Augustine, Florida, dilaporkan telah diselamatkan dan berada dalam keadaan kritikal.
7 juri dipilih dalam bicara kes wang sogok yang dihadapi Trump
Tujuh juri dipilih dalam perbicaraan kes wang sogok Donald Trump di New York, perbicaraan jenayah pertama terhadap bekas presiden Amerika Syarikat.
Berita antarabangsa pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Antara pelbagai berita luar negara yang disiarkan di Astro AWANI, berikut adalah yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari ini.
Perbicaraan skandal Donald Trump - bintang porno bermula
Donald Trump menjadi bekas Presiden Amerika Syarikat pertama yang menghadapi perbicaraan kes jenayah.
Bicara kes bayaran tutup mulut yang dihadapi Trump bermula dengan pemilihan juri
Donald Trump akan menjadi bekas presiden pertama dalam sejarah Amerika Syarikat (AS) yang dibicarakan atas tuduhan jenayah.
Trump gagal tangguh, perbicaraan tetap berlangsung 15 April ini
Ini merupakan kali pertama bekas Presiden AS dibicarakan melibatkan bayaran menutup mulut kepada seorang bintang filem lucah.
Biden menang pemilihan peringkat awal di Dakota Utara
Dalam pemilihan peringkat awal di Dakota Utara, terdapat 13 perwakilan ditawarkan dan kebanyakan pengundian dilakukan melalui undi pos.
Berita antarabangsa pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Antara pelbagai berita luar negara yang disiarkan di Astro AWANI, berikut adalah yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari ini.
Perbicaraan Donald Trump bermula 15 April
Ini merupakan kali pertama bekas Presiden AS dibicarakan melibatkan bayaran menutup mulut kepada seorang bintang filem lucah.