Former President Donald Trump was indicted on four criminal counts by a grand jury in Washington D.C. for trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election and preventing the transfer of power on Jan. 6, announced Special Counsel jack Smith, who said he would seek a “speedy trial.”
Jack Smith: "The attack on our nation's capital on January 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy. It is described in the indictment as fueled by lies — lies by the defendant targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the US government" pic.twitter.com/JrCS9tjOp3
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 1, 2023
Trump and Republicans responded:
Trump says he will be indicted at 5p tonight in the Jan. 6 investigation pic.twitter.com/4uoTBCbBBP
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) August 1, 2023
Deep down the smart Democrats know they are creating a beast on the right. We will return the favor and put their leaders in jail, fighting fire with fire. Won't happen overnight, but they know this wont end well for them.
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) August 1, 2023
Jonathan Turley is blatantly lying on Fox News. Jack Smith makes clear in the early pages of the indictment that Trump's statements are not the alleged crimes — the crime was the effort to disenfranchise voters pic.twitter.com/XlBTWfhx6s
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 1, 2023
Jack Smith is a rogue prosecutor with an axe to grind aganist President Trump, who is willing to tip the country and the rule of law on its head by throwing indictment after indictment aganist their biggest threat.
— Congressman Byron Donalds (@RepDonaldsPress) August 1, 2023
Read my entire statement below: pic.twitter.com/4ZjRYWlNH0
This indictment was announced the day after Devon Archer’s testimony to @GOPOversight.
— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) August 1, 2023
It almost seems that the persecution of President Trump by the DOJ is a cover-up for Biden’s criminal activities.
But it’s just a coincidence!
Republicans with criminal records were also outraged over Trump’s latest indictment:
We've become completely accustomed to seeing President Trump indicted for "crimes" while Joe Biden skirts the law every single day.
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) August 1, 2023
No politically-motivated indictment is going to change my mind.
TRUMP 2024 NOW MORE THAN EVER.
It’s 1859 in America. The country is spinning out of control. A rogue regime is hell-bent on taking out the leader of the opposition party. This is not democracy—it’s tyranny masking itself as “rule of law.” This is uncharted territory and no one knows where it will end #Trump
— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) August 1, 2023
NBC News reported the charges against Trump in detail:
Trump has been charged with four 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; a conspiracy against the right to vote and to have that vote counted; and obstruction of, and attempt to obstruct and impede, the certification of the electoral vote.”
Under the first count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S., federal prosecutors argue that once violence began at the Capitol on Jan. 6, Trump only inflamed the situation.
The indictment says that Trump continued to blast out claims of election fraud after the riot began unfolding.
“As violence ensued, the Defendant and co-conspirators exploited the disruption by redoubling efforts to levy false claims of election fraud and convince Members of Congress to further delay the certification based on those claims,” prosecutors wrote in the indictment.
(Sources: NBC News, Twitter)