Donald Trump indicted: Initial court appearance set for former president
Jack Birle
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Former President Donald Trump‘s initial court appearance for his federal indictment on charges related to his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election has been set.
The former president has been summoned to appear before Magistrate Judge Moxila A. Upadhyaya at a courthouse in Washington, D.C., on Thursday at 4 p.m.
DONALD TRUMP INDICTED: JACK SMITH JAN. 6 GRAND JURY VOTES FOR NEW INDICTMENT
Trump was indicted on 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, by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after an investigation by special counsel Jack Smith.
In the 45-page indictment, Smith alleges that in the immediate aftermath of the 2020 election, the former president “did knowingly combine, conspire, confederate, and agree with co-conspirators, known and unknown to the grand jury, to injure, oppress, threaten, and intimidate one or more persons in the free exercise and enjoyment of a right and privilege secured to them by the Constitution and laws of the United States — that is, the right to vote, and to have one’s vote counted.”
Trump is scheduled to appear before Upadhyaya on Thursday, but Judge Tanya Sue Chutkan has been assigned the case, according to the docket.
The former president’s 2024 campaign blasted the indictment, comparing the latest charges to Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union and alleging the Department of Justice has been “weaponized.”
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This is the third case in which Trump has been indicted this year, and it is his second federal indictment. The former president was indicted in Manhattan on charges related to business records falsification in March and in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida for charges related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents. Smith also led the investigation in the classified documents case. Trump is the first president, current or former, to be indicted.
Trump is widely expected to be indicted by a grand jury in Georgia later this month over different charges related to his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election.