Here are some takeaways from the latest, arguably most significant indictment.
Trump is charged with four counts: conspiracy to obstruct and obstructing an official proceeding – the same charges brought against many of the hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants – as well as conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to violate the right to vote.
Smith cites examples – many previously known – of those around Trump directly informing him that his claims were false and his schemes dubious. They included Vice President Mike Pence, top Justice Department officials, top White House attorneys and campaign staff members, key state legislators and officials, and state and federal courts.
Trump is also described as acknowledging that claims about voting machines by Co-Conspirator 3 , which he would echo repeatedly, were unsupported. A police officer and a dog patrol the perimeter of the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse August 3, 2023 in Washington, DC.Both Eastman and Clark also feature in two scenes that Smith included alluding to the prospect of violence.
As for whether others might be charged, Smith said in a brief statement Tuesday night, “Our investigation of other individuals continues.”One thing that comes through in the indictment is how so much of Trump’s and his alleged co-conspirators’ actions involved creating pretexts and essentially taking advantage of other people, in Smith’s telling.
Smith cites how, on the eve of the Dec. 14 deadline for electors to be declared, Trump aides declined to put out a statement about the move to advance alternate slates because none of them could “stand by it.” One top official called it “a crazy play so I don’t know who wants to put their name on it.” An adviser labeled it “certifying illegal votes.”
Demonstrators gather near the E. Barrett Prettyman US Courthouse in Washington, DC, on August 3, 2023, ahead of the arraignment of former US President Donald Trump.Smith also notes that such a lawsuit was filed in New Mexico just six minutes before the deadline for electors on Dec. 14. He labels it “a pretext so that there was pending litigation there at the time the fraudulent electors voted.”
The language is telling; it suggests that the disruption was the purpose, not an unintentional byproduct.Article content
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