Well, here we are again! Donald Trump has been indicted on even MORE federal charges.
These have nothing to do with the classified documents he took to Mar-a-Lago — this is actually much more serious even than that. This is the result of the investigation into the former president’s actions after the 2020 election — and leading up to the violence on January 6 committed by his followers in his name.
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Based on the evidence of Trump’s ongoing “big lie” — and machinations with other individuals they think they can show — the Department of Justice chose to charge Trump with the following crimes:
- conspiracy to defraud the United States “by using dishonesty, fraud and deceit to obstruct the nation’s process of collecting, counting, and certifying the results of the presidential election” (maximum 5 year sentence)
- conspiracy to impede the January 6 congressional proceeding (maximum 20 year sentence)
- conspiracy against the right to vote and to have that vote counted (maximum 10 year sentence)
- obstruction of, and attempt to obstruct and impede, the certification of the electoral vote (maximum 20 year sentence)
The indictment reads:
“The Defendant and co-conspirators used knowingly false claims of election fraud to get state legislators and election officials to subvert the legitimate election results and change electoral votes for the Defendant’s opponent, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., to electoral votes for the Defendant.”
We know Trump tried to talk election officials into “finding” more votes for him, that various supporters tried to fraudulently replace the real electors of multiple states, and more. The burden of proof will be on the government to prove which of the many actions Trump knew about, which he signed off on, and which he directed. There are six other unnamed co-conspirators mentioned in the indictment, so it seems pretty clear the government has a very clear idea about what specifically they can prove.
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They are NOT charging Trump with incitement for his speech before the January 6 attack — but it’s clear by that second charge that the impediment of Congress was his goal, and that’s what federal prosecutors will argue. The indictment explains:
“As violence ensued, the Defendant and co-conspirators exploited the disruption by redoubling efforts to levy false claims of election fraud and convince Members of Congress to further delay the certification based on those claims.”
Well, damn. We definitely know that’s true, we watched that happen live on social media!
If Trump were to be found guilty of these crimes, he could face up to 55 years in prison. Shocking this is happening in the US, but it’s important to remember — it’s one of the basic tenets of democracy that no one is above the law.
In his brief statement on the charges, Special Counsel Jack Smith began:
“Today an indictment was unsealed charging Donald J. Trump with conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiring to disenfranchise voters and conspiring and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding.”
He focused on the January 6 attack in his statement, calling it “an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy”:
“It was fueled by lies — lies by the defendant targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the U.S. government: the nation’s process of collecting, counting, and certifying the results of the presidential election.”
See his full words (below):
What do YOU think of the charges, Perezcious readers??
[Image via MEGA/WENN.]
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