A grand jury reportedly indicted Donald Trump for attempting to overthrow the 2020 presidential election. Special counsel Jack Smith announced the indictment on Tuesday (August 1).
Trump was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of/attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights. The latest indictment marked the third criminal case against Trump.
“The purpose of the conspiracy was to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election by using knowingly false claims of election fraud to obstruct the government function by which those results are collected, counted and certified,” the indictment explained.
The former president is expected to be arraigned in Washington, D.C. on Thursday (August 3). Trump spoke out against the indictment on his Truth Social platform.
“I hear that Deranged Jack Smith, in order to interfere with the Presidential Election of 2024, will be putting out yet another Fake Indictment of your favorite President, me, at 5:00 P.M,” he wrote. “Why didn’t they do this 2.5 years ago? Why did they wait so long? Because they wanted to put it right in the middle of my campaign. Prosecutorial Misconduct!”
Trump’s presidential campaign also complained about the latest indictment in a statement.
“The lawlessness of these persecutions of President Trump and his supporters is reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, the former Soviet Union and other authoritarian, dictatorial regimes,” the campaign said. “President Trump has always followed the law and the Constitution with advice from many highly accomplished lawyers.”
Trump was previously indicted for 37 felony counts in a classified information and obstruction of justice case. He additionally faced 34 counts of falsifying business records in a hush-money scheme.