Former President Donald Trump Indicted for Conspiring to Steal the 2020 Election
On Tuesday, a federal grand jury indicted former President Donald Trump for conspiring to steal the 2020 presidential election from President Joe Biden, including his role in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“The attack on our nation’s Capitol on January 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy,” U.S. Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith said amid the indictment’s public announcement. “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,” Smith, whose office has been investigating Trump for the past several months continued, according to The Associated Press.
This is the third criminal lawsuit the former president has faced since leaving office. Four counts have been levied against Trump: 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.
A statement from the Trump campaign calls the charges “fake” and argues that the indictment is an attempt to hinder Trump’s 2024 presidential run.
Still, prosecutors say Trump knowingly falsely claimed the election was stolen and “repeated and widely disseminated [such claims] anyway — to make his knowingly false claims appear legitimate, to create an intense national atmosphere of mistrust and anger, and to erode public faith in the administration of the election.”
The indictment also accuses Trump and six unnamed co-conspirators of deploying “fake electors” to states where Biden won to falsely declare Trump the winner instead.
He is also accused of intentionally deceiving his supporters and urging them to storm the capitol in an effort to convince lawmakers and former Vice President Mike Pence not to accept the certification of the electoral votes.
USA Today reports that much of the information laid out in the indictment was uncovered by the special congressional committee investigating the January 6 riot.
“Today’s charges are consistent with those the Select Committee referred to the Special Counsel last year,” Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) wrote on X, the social media platform formerly called Twitter. “Successful prosecutions will not only bring accountability but also help prevent something like January 6 from ever happening again,” he added.
Today’s charges are consistent with those the Select Committee referred to the Special Counsel last year, and successful prosecutions will not only bring accountability but also help prevent something like January 6th from ever happening again.
— Bennie G. Thompson (@BennieGThompson) August 1, 2023
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), however, called the indictment a distraction from the alleged crimes of President Joe Biden and his family.
“We’ve recently learned: Hunter received money from China (contradicting President Biden’s claim), President Biden spoke with Hunter’s business associates over 20 times (contradicting what Biden previously claimed), Biden’s DOJ tried to secretly give Hunter broad immunity and admitted the sweetheart deal was unprecedented And just yesterday a new poll showed President Trump is without a doubt Biden’s leading political opponent,” McCarthy wrote on X. “Everyone in America could see what was going to come next: DOJ’s attempt to distract from the news and attack the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, President Trump,” he continued.
“House Republicans will continue to uncover the truth about Biden Inc. and the two-tiered system of justice,” McCarthy concluded.
We’ve recently learned:
• Hunter received money from China (contradicting President Biden’s claim)
• President Biden spoke with Hunter’s business associates over 20 times (contradicting what Biden previously claimed)
• Biden’s DOJ tried to secretly give Hunter broad immunity…— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) August 1, 2023
Trump is due to appear in court on Thursday.
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Brandon Bell/Staff
Kayla Koslosky has been the Editor of ChristianHeadlines.com since 2018. She has B.A. degrees in English and History and previously wrote for and was the managing editor of the Yellow Jacket newspaper. She has also contributed to IBelieve.com and Crosswalk.com.
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