Trump Indicted Over Efforts to Challenge 2020 Election Results ~ August 3, 2023

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Special counsel Jack Smith levies four charges, including ‘conspiracy to defraud the United States’

Trump Indicted Over Efforts to Challenge 2020 Election Results — Former President and 2024 Republican Presidential hopeful Donald Trump speaks at a Republican volunteer recruitment event at Fervent, a Calvary Chapel, in Las Vegas, Nevada, July 8, 2023. (PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

A grand jury in Washington approved felony charges on Aug. 1 against former President Donald Trump in connection with his efforts to dispute the results of the 2020 election and with the events of Jan. 6, 2021.

According to the indictment, Mr. Trump faces four federal charges arising out of a probe by special counsel Jack Smith: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy to deprive citizens of the “free exercise” of constitutional rights.

Topline

Former President Donald Trump was indicted in federal court Tuesday on four charges stemming from his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, with prosecutors laying out a multi-pronged effort by the ex-president and his co-conspirators to challenge the vote count that the DOJ alleges violated federal law.

he DOJ alleges in the indictment that Trump and his co-conspirators carried out a “conspiracy to impair, obstruct, and defeat the federal government function through dishonesty, fraud, and deceit” through five schemes challenging the election results that allegedly violated federal laws against conspiracy and obstruction.

Pressuring State Officials And Legislatures: Trump and his co-conspirators allegedly used deceit and false claims about election fraud (which the indictment alleges Trump knew were false) to pressure state officials and lawmakers in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to overturn the election results, including by directly speaking with officials—like Trump’s phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger—and pressuring state lawmakers to use the legislatures to replace the states’ electors or declare the election is “in dispute.”