WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd August, 2023) Former President Donald Trump has been charged with four criminal counts over his alleged role in trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, court documents revealed.
"Despite having lost, the Defendant was determined to remain in power. So for more than two months following Election Day on November 3, 2020, the Defendant spread lies that there had been outcome-determinative fraud in the election and that he had actually won. These claims were false, and the Defendant knew that they were false," the indictment said on Tuesday.
Trump is charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, one count of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, one count of obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and one count of conspiracy against rights.
Court documents also showed that there are six co-conspirators in this case.
Trump's new indictment comes amid a number of other probes into potential misconduct by Trump, including on his alleged mishandling of classified documents, as well as in the middle of the 2024 presidential race, in which he has established himself as the Republican Party's leading candidate.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, who is running against Trump in the Republican Primary, took the opportunity to remind voters that he was the one that "chose the Constitution" when pressed by Trump during the riot.
"Today's indictment serves as an important reminder: anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the United States," Pence said in a tweet. "Our country is more important than one man. Our constitution is more important than any one man's career."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in a statement said the charges illustrate in detail that the January 6 riots were the culmination of a "months-long criminal plot" to overturn the will of the voters.
Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Smith's indictment is nothing more than an attempt by the Biden administration to distract attention from the corruption probe involving Hunter Biden.
Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene vowed to introduce an amendment to the budget that defunds Smith's office.
"This isn't just an indictment against President Trump, but against all his supporters and the fundamental rights of Americans. If an innocent former president can be targeted, then no American is truly safe," Greene warned in a twitter post.
