Donald Trump indicted: Jack Smith says ‘lies by the defendant’ led to Jan. 6
Kaelan Deese
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Special counsel Jack Smith announced Tuesday that former President Donald Trump was charged on four counts in a case surrounding alleged efforts to subvert the 2020 election and disrupt the peaceful transfer of power at the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“The attack on our nation’s capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy,” said Smith, who was appointed to the investigation by Attorney General Merrick Garland last November. “It was fueled by lies. Lies by the defendant targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the U.S. government, the nation’s process of collecting, counting, and certifying the results of the presidential election.”
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The four federal charges include 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, according to the indictment handed up Tuesday by a federal grand jury.
“From on or about November 14, 2020, through on or about January 20, 2021, in the District of Columbia and elsewhere, the defendant, Donald J. Trump, 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,” the indictment reads.
Smith lauded the “men and women of law enforcement” who were there during the Jan. 6 riot as “heroes” who did their duty to defend the U.S. Capitol.
“They’re patriots and they are the very best of us. They did not just defend a building or the people sheltering in it. They put their lives on the line to defend who we are as a country and as a people. They defended the very institutions and principles that define the United States,” Smith added.
The special counsel also reaffirmed the Justice Department’s ongoing commitment to “ensuring accountability for those criminally responsible for what happened that day,” as more than 1,000 defendants have been named as part of the federal government’s widening array of cases stemming from that day.
Before ending the brief news conference, Smith said he “must emphasize” that the indictment is only an allegation and that the defendant must be presumed innocent until proven guilty. The special counsel thanked the FBI as well as “many career prosecutors and law enforcement agents from around the country who have worked on previous January 6 investigations.”
Shortly after Smith’s Tuesday statements, Garland told reporters that he has faith in the special counsel’s case, adding that “career men and women at the Justice Department are engaged in what has become the largest investigation in our history.”
Tuesday marked the second federal indictment the former president faces out of Smith’s investigation. He is also facing charges in a separate case including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and false statements. Trump was also charged with an additional three counts as part of a superseding indictment out of that case on July 27. He has pleaded not guilty in the classified documents case and is awaiting an Aug. 10 arraignment hearing for the additional charges added on Thursday.
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Trump has been summoned to appear at a federal courthouse in the nation’s capital Thursday afternoon for the 2020 election-related case. He has similarly denied wrongdoing ahead of Smith’s indictment on Tuesday, calling him a “deranged” prosecutor while questioning the time of the charges against him.
“Why didn’t they bring this ridiculous case 2.5 years ago? They wanted it right in the middle of my campaign, that’s why!” Trump posted to Truth Social Tuesday evening.
Trump indictment