Donald Trump was criminally indicted for a third time on Aug. 1 as a Washington grand jury voted to prosecute the former President on four counts related to his efforts to remain in power after losing the 2020 election and his role in the events leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol. The prosecution sets up yet another complicated and explosive legal battle as Trump vies for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
The latest indictment, which the Justice Department announced Tuesday and references six unnamed co-conspirators, follows an investigation that stretched almost eight months by Special Counsel Jack Smith, whose team had interviewed dozens of prominent figures in Trump’s orbit, including former Vice President Mike Pence, over Trump’s efforts to disrupt the peaceful transition of power on Jan. 6. The four charges include conspiracy to defraud the government, conspiracy against the right to vote, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, and obstruction of an official proceeding.
“Each of these conspiracies—which built on the widespread mistrust the Defendant was creating through pervasive and destabilizing lies about election fraud—targeted a bedrock function of the United States federal government: the nation’s process of collecting, counting, and certifying the results of the presidential election,” the indictment says.