US indicts Donald Trump for efforts to overturn 2020 election results
Former US president Trump was summoned to appear before a federal magistrate judge in Washington.
Trump is charged with four counts in the 45-page indictment brought by special counsel Jack Smith, including conspiracy to defraud the United States. / Photo: Reuters Archive
Donald Trump has been charged in a Justice Department investigation into his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the run-up to the violent riot by his supporters at the US Capitol.
Tuesday's charges include conspiracy to defraud the United States government and witness tampering.
The indictment, the third criminal case brought against the former president as he seeks to reclaim the White House in 2024, follows a long-running federal investigation into schemes by Trump and his allies to subvert the peaceful transfer of power and keep him in office despite a decisive loss to Joe Biden.
Even in a year of rapid-succession legal reckonings for Trump, Tuesday's criminal case was especially stunning in its allegations that a former president assaulted the underpinnings of democracy in a frantic and ultimately failed effort to cling to power.
'Remain in power'
Federal prosecutors say Donald Trump was “determined to remain in power” in conspiracies that targeted a “bedrock function of the United States federal government: the nation’s process of collecting, counting and certifying the results of the presidential election.”
The turmoil resulted in the US Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, when protesters violently broke into the building, attacked police officers and disrupted the congressional counting of electoral votes.
Trump is due in court on Thursday before US District Judge Tanya Chutkan.
The criminal case comes while Trump leads the field of Republicans vying to capture their party’s presidential nomination.
What happens next?
Following a pattern set by his prior arraignments in New York and Miami, it is not anticipated that Trump will be imprisoned after his latest indictment. Trump was previously fingerprinted in both situations, but he was neither handcuffed nor had his picture taken for a mugshot. In New York, cameras were permitted in the courtroom, but not in Miami. He was also given permission to go home after both arraignments.
What does this mean for Donald Trump's campaign in 2024?
Donald Trump has so far brushed off his legal troubles. On the contrary, he boomed in the polls for 2024. With an average lead over Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis of more than 30 percentage points, he continues to be the front runner in the GOP primary.
Copyright © 2024 TRT World.