WASHINGTON — A federal grand jury indicted former President Donald Trump on four felony counts Tuesday – finding his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election had moved beyond political maneuvering and into possible criminal conduct.
The 45-page indictment unsealed in D.C. District Court accuses Trump and six unnamed co-conspirators of plotting to remain in power despite his loss to President Joe Biden in the 2020 election. The Justice Department alleges that plot took the form of three interlinking conspiracies intended to defraud voters and obstruct the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6 by pressuring former Vice President Mike Pence and members of Congress to reject legitimate electoral votes and accept fraudulent ones from seven states.
“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 States federal government: the nation’s process of collecting, counting, and certifying the results of the presidential election,” prosecutors wrote.
The four charges named in the indictment, all felonies, are as follows:
- Conspiracy to Defraud the United States
- Conspiracy to Obstruct an Official Proceeding
- Obstruction of and Attempt to Obstruct an Official Proceeding
- Conspiracy Against Rights
Although Trump’s alleged co-conspirators are not named in the indictment, they are described in detail. They include four attorneys accused of helping devise the plan to submit fraudulent slates of electors, mount a pressure campaign against Pence or otherwise spread “unfounded claims of election fraud.” The remaining two defendants are described as a Justice Department official who allegedly attempted to use the DOJ to open “sham election crime investigations” to influence state legislatures and a political consultant who assisted in devising the fraudulent electors plan. As of Tuesday evening, no other indictments had been unsealed in connection with the case.
Pence, who is named throughout the indictment as one of the main targets of the alleged conspiracies, testified before the grand jury in April after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Trump's effort to block him from appearing. The former vice president — who is now making his own bid for the Republican presidential nomination —reacted to the indictment on social media Tuesday, saying Trump had asked him to "choose between him and the Constitution."
"Today's indictment serves as an important reminder: anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the United States," Pence wrote.
Trump also responded to the indictment on his social media platform Truth Social by attacking Special Counsel Jack Smith and the prosecution as politically motivated.
"Why didn't they bring this ridiculous case 2.5 years ago?" Trump wrote. "They wanted it right in the middle of my campaign, that's why!"
The charges are the culmination of more than two-and-a-half years of investigation into the Jan. 6 attack, which saw thousands of the former president’s supporters storm the Capitol during a joint session of Congress to certify President Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 election.
The riot caused the constitutionally mandated proceeding to be halted for approximately six hours and resulted in millions of dollars’ worth of damage to the Capitol. Four members of the crowd died that day, including Ashli Babbitt, a U.S. Air Force veteran who was shot and killed while attempting to climb through a window into the Speaker’s Lobby. The deaths of five police officers have also been linked to the riot along with injuries sustained by more than 140 others.
Since November, the federal investigations into both Trump’s efforts to overturn the election and his possession of classified documents at his Florida estate have been overseen by special counsel Jack Smith, a former acting U.S. attorney who previously lead the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section. Prior to his appointment by Attorney General Merrick Garland as special counsel, Smith was serving a second term as chief prosecutor at the Hague for an international tribunal investigating and prosecuting war crimes in the Kosovo War.
Smith promised upon his appointment that the pace of investigations into efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the former president “will not pause or flag under my watch.” Last month, he sought and received a historic grand jury indictment in Florida accusing Trump of 37 felony counts alleging he willfully retained national defense information and conspired to obstruct the subsequent investigation. Walt Nauta, a former U.S. Navy petty officer who served as Trump’s valet in the White House and has continued working for him as a personal aide, is named as a co-defendant in that case. Trump is also the subject of a separate grand jury investigation into possible election interference in Georgia. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has said she may seek a grand jury indictment in that case in August.
In addition to the federal cases against him, Trump was also indicted in April in an unrelated investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on 34 counts relating to hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election.
In the 30 months since the Capitol riot, the Justice Department has charged more than 1,000 defendants, including more than 350 accused of assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement. More than 600 people have now pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial, including dozens of members of extremist organizations like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys accused of conspiring to disrupt the certification of the 2020 election on Jan. 6.
Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, a senior member of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, said "This indictment makes clear the threat Donald J. Trump is to our democracy. He knowingly tried to overturn an election he knew he lost. He will be remembered for the stain he left in office, and his behavior mustn’t be normalized. This is unprecedented and must be prosecuted.”
Trump is scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday.
A spokesperson for DC Police said, "The Metropolitan Police Department is working closely with our federal law enforcement partners to monitor the situation and plan accordingly to ensure the safety of DC residents and visitors. MPD encourages the public to remain vigilant, if you see something, say something. Please report immediate suspicious activity by calling 911."