By TN Ashok
Washington, Aug 02 : Former US President Donald Trump, who hit the campaign dirt a month ago to seek Republican nomination for the 2024 presidental race, has been indicted for a 2nd time within two months. A federal grand jury has indicted former president Donald Trump.
The special counsel is none other than DOJ’s Jack Smith but this time around the charges reference Trumps efforts to overturn the 2020 election leading to the January 06 attack on the US Capitol hill. Prosecutors sat its part of an effort to him accountable for an unprecedented effort block the peaceful transfer of power and threaten American democracy, media reports here said.
The former president Trump was indicted on for counts.
· Conspiracy to defraud the United States “by using dishonesty, fraud and deceit to obstruct the nation’s process of collecting, counting, and certifying the results of the presidential election”;
· Conspiracy to impede the Jan. 6 congressional proceeding;
· Conspiracy against the right to vote and to have that vote counted;
· Obstruction of and attempt to obstruct and impede the certification of the electoral vote.
The federal jury handed out a 45 page indictment.
Federal prosecutors comprehensively lay out their case against the former president, accusing him of trying to subvert the election by enlisting the DOJ to conduct sham investigations, putting together slates of fake electors in several states, trying to get his VP to overturn the election, and exploiting the Capitol attack to force members of Congress to halt the certification of the election..
Excerpt: “Each of these conspiracies — which built on the widespread mistrust the defendant was creating through pervasive and destabilizing lies about election fraud — targeted a bedrock function of the United State federal government: the nation’s process of collecting, counting and certifying the results of the presidential election.”
Timing: Trump will make an initial court appearance in DC Thursday afternoon. A schedule for pre-trial motions will be set, and a trial could extend into the presidential election season next year.
JACK SMITH STATEMENT
Shortly after Trump was indicted; Special Counsel Jack Smith gave a brief statement to the media, tying Trump to the attack on January 6.
Jack Smith said Jan. 6 was “unprecedented assault” on democracy. “It was fuelled 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”
THE JUDGE
Overseeing this case: U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan. Unlike the Trump-appointed judge in the classified documents federal case, Chutkan was appointed by former President Obama. (Note: Both judges were chosen at random.)
· Chutkan has set tougher sentences than requested by the Justice Department in several of the cases involving Jan. 6 defendants, citing the necessity of consequences for taking part in the insurrection.
PENCE VS TRUMP
The indictment repeatedly cites handwritten notes from former VP Mike Pence, who contemporaneously documented his conversations with Trump.
At one point, Trump complained to Pence that the VP was “too honest” to block the certification of votes on January 6th. On Tuesday, Pence came out swinging in a statement, saying that “anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President.”
Pence is currently contesting Trump for the 2024 GOP nomination, and the drama could play out in the courtroom as well, since he will likely be called to testify during the trial.
THE CO-CONSPIRATORS
As part of the indictment, federal prosecutors allege that Trump enlisted six co-conspirators to “assist him in his criminal efforts to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election and retain power.”
They are not named, but five have been identified based on publicly-known descriptions of episodes in the indictment. So far, they have not been indicted, but prosecutors could add charges at any point.
1. Rudy Giuliani
2. John Eastman
3. Sidney Powell
4. Jeffrey Clark
5. Kenneth Chesebro
6. A political consultant
TRUMP’S RESPONSE
The former president has responded to this indictment about election interference by comparing himself to the victims of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. His allies and lawyers say that Trump was exercising free speech in contesting the election and did nothing illegal. They believe this indictment represents prosecutorial overreach and showcase a biased DOJ.
TRUMP’S OTHER LEGAL PROBLEMS:
This is just the latest in a string of legal problems for the former president. He has now been indicted three times in five months, and faces a potential fourth indictment.
· Federal Classified Documents Case: Special Counsel Jack Smith indicted Trump in the classified documents and obstruction of justice probe in early June. He faces 40 criminal counts. A trial is set to start next May.
· NY Criminal Case: A Manhattan grand jury indicted him for business fraud in the spring, in the case that includes making hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. He faces 34 criminal counts related to falsifying business records. That trial is set to start in March 2024.
· Georgia Criminal Case: A grand jury in Atlanta is considering an indictment against Trump related to 2020 election interference in the state. That could come down in the next few weeks.
· He also faces a couple civil cases in NY related to defamation and business misconduct by the Trump Corporation.