More trouble for Donald Trump, who has been indicted for his assault on Capitol Hill on 6 January 2021. The former US president has now been officially indicted in Washington for his role in the attempt to subvert the results of the 2020 elections. For special prosecutor Jack Smith it was an ‘unprecedented attack on American democracy‘.
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The new charges
The news of the indictment had been spread by Trump himself around 4pm yesterday on his social network Truth.
Just over an hour before special prosecutor Jack Smith formally filed the indictment papers, the former president had written: “I’m told that deranged Smith, in order to interfere with the 2024 Presidential election, is about to issue a new false indictment for your favourite president.”
Then, after 5pm everything happened quickly. “Today we formally charge Donald J. Trump with conspiracy to defraud the United States. Conspiracy to deprive voters of their rights. And attempting to block an official function,” said Prosecutor Smith.
Adding that the violent attack on the heart of Capitol Hill constituted “an unprecedented assault on the seat of American Democracy” caused by the lies spread by the defendant.
The reactions
Also on the Truth social network, Trump adumbrates the hypothesis that Smith and his team, as well as President Joe Biden, are trying to undermine the results of the upcoming presidential election.
“Why didn’t they do this two and a half years ago? Why did they wait so long? Because they wanted to do it right in the middle of my campaign. This is prosecutorial misconduct!” said Trump.
In his view, the indictment would be ‘nothing more than the latest corrupt chapter’ in a political ‘witch hunt’. Trump, sources from the ex-president’s re-election campaign chime in, ‘has always abided by the law and the Constitution, with advice from many talented lawyers’.
What happens now
Prosecutor Jack Smith has promised a speedy trial ‘before a citizens’ jury‘. Suggesting that the verdict could come well before the November 2024 elections.
Which will pose a problem not only for Trump but also for his part. Since the tycoon is still the favourite in the Republican primary, a full 37 points behind his party rival Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
