Donald Trump due in court charged with ‘conspiracy to defraud United States’
Lawyer says case is aimed at thwarting Trump’s attempt to return to the White House
Donald Trump will make another new court appearance on Thursday – this time charged with plotting to overturn his 2020 election defeat in a case his lawyers say is a deliberate bid to disrupt his 2024 presidential election campaign.
The former president is accused of four counts including conspiracy to defraud the United States, tampering with a witness, and conspiracy against the rights of citizens.
It is the culmination of inquiries into the 6 January, 2021 riot at the US Capitol in Washington DC.
Mr Trump, 77, denies wrongdoing. He has already been charged in two other cases: with mishandling classified files, and with falsifying business records to cover up a hush-money payment to a porn star.
On Thursday, he will attend a federal courthouse in Washington DC to be formally charged and possibly to enter a plea.
A judge will then set a schedule for the months-long legal wrangling ahead of his eventual trial.
While there is nothing to prevent a criminal defendant from campaigning to become president – or even taking office if convicted – his lawyer says he believes the latest case is aimed at thwarting Trump’s bid to return to the White House.
“They want to go to trial so that instead of debating the issues against Joe Biden … President Trump is sitting in a courtroom – how is that justice?” John Lauro said on NBC’s Today show. “The American people want to talk about the issues. What they don’t want to do is relitigate the 2020 election.”
If he wins the nomination, Mr Trump would face off against Democratic President Joe Biden in November 2024. Mr Biden defeated Mr Trump in 2020, but he has only a razor-thin edge for a hypothetical second match-up, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Among the revelations in the latest indictment is that Mr Trump knew for certain he had lost. “There is no world, there is no option in which you do not leave the White House (on) January 20th,” a White House lawyer had told him, according to the indictment.
The document also lists several conversations between Mr Trump and Mike Pence, including one on in which the vice-president said it would not be possible to publicly reject the electoral college decision on 6 Jan 2021. Mr Trump told Mr Pence: “You’re too honest.”
While Mr Trump is the only person charged, his indictment refers to six co-conspirators who worked with him to try to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
The six individuals – four attorneys, one Justice Department official and one political consultant – have not been named in the charging documents because they have not yet been charged with any crimes.
However, based on the details in the indictment and records already known about the events leading up to the Capitol riot, the identities of five of the six co-conspirators are clear.
The individual referred to as “Co-conspirator 1’’ appears to be former New York City Mayor and Mr Trump’s former attorney Rudy Giuliani. The indictment says this individual is an “attorney who was willing to spread knowingly false claims and pursue strategies that the defendant’s 2020 re-election campaign attorneys would not”.
The overlapping of Mr Trump’s legal dramas with the 2024 election represents a stark challenge for Joe Biden. Although the president has made protecting democracy a cornerstone of his agenda and campaign, he also has pledged to respect the independence of the judicial process.
The result is that Mr Biden probably will feel compelled to remain quiet about a court case that could send the leading Republican presidential candidate to prison, even though the charges hinge on behaviour that Mr Biden has described as an existential threat.
“That’s the posture that they’ve had, and that’s the posture they’re going to need to maintain,” said Patrick Gaspard, who served as White House political director under President Barack Obama. “Because there can’t be any political taint to the proceedings at all.”
Mr Biden maintained a similar silence after the two earlier Trump indictments.
Mr Trump could face more charges this month related to his attempt to overturn his election loss. A prosecutor in Georgia is investigating whether he broke any state laws there.
Anna Greenberg, a Democratic pollster, said she thought all the criminal cases will ultimately weigh down Mr Trump even if his most dedicated supporters do not abandon him.
“People are going to argue, what’s another indictment?” she said. “But whenever the news is dominated by his troubles, it’s not good news for the Republican Party writ large.”
The sheer number of investigations, criminal cases and lawsuits brought against Mr Trump are unprecedented for a former president. The same could be said for the tens of millions of dollars in legal fees paid out to attorneys representing him and his allies, straining the finances of his campaign.
An Associated Press analysis of recent fundraising disclosures shows Mr Trump’s political committees have paid out at least $59.2m (£46.5m) to more than 100 lawyers and law firms since January 2021.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
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