| French adds that “the case is no slam dunk.” But “if a prosecutor believes—as Smith appears to—that he can prove Trump knew his claims were false and then engineered a series of schemes to cajole, coerce, deceive and defraud in order to preserve his place in the White House, it would be a travesty of justice not to file charges,” he writes.
In a televised statement, Smith encouraged everyone to read the indictment in full.
What the Indictment Says
The indictment lays out four counts related to three alleged criminal conspiracies. Trump is accused of conspiring to defraud the United States, to obstruct an official proceeding, and to disenfranchise people.
“You might think about the three parts of the indictment as a helpful breakdown of the three ways in which Trump and his allies—there are six unnamed and so far uncharged co-conspirators mentioned in the indictment—attempted to subvert the presidential election process,” my colleague Eric Boehm wrote yesterday. “Taken together, then, Smith’s indictment outlines how the plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election harmed voters, the state-level vote-counting process, and the country’s democratic process at a high level.”
The defrauding charge centers on Trump’s attempts to have state lawmakers who would do his bidding appointed as alternate electors, in an attempt to get himself and not Joe Biden declared the rightful winner of the 2020 presidential election. The charges of actual and attempted obstruction of justice relate to his actions on and around January 6. And the voting rights charge relates to the ways in which his conduct could have deprived the American people of the right to choose their president.
“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 alleges.
More Reactions
Many Republican officeholders and candidates have been quick to condemn the indictment as political shenanigans and “weaponization of government.”
Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz tweeted: “DEFUND JACK SMITH’S WITCH HUNT AGAINST PRESIDENT TRUMP!”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy called it an “attempt to distract” from charges against Joe Biden’s son Hunter.
“When you drain The Swamp, The Swamp fights back,” Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan tweeted. “President Trump did nothing wrong!”
Others have commended the indictment as a blow against corruption and conspiracy and a win for the rule of law.
“This presents anew a defining question for our country: law or men? Choose law,” tweeted Heath Mayo of the reformist conservative group Principles First.
“Donald Trump must be held accountable for conspiring to overturn an election and inciting a violent, fascist insurrection. The American people deserve justice,” commented Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D–Mich.).
“Today’s federal indictment matters beyond the fact that a former president is accused. The conspiracies at the heart of the case are still being used to justify voting and election law all across the country,” tweeted the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. “Trump’s lies about voter fraud and a rigged election drove the insurrection and continue to damage our electoral system—driving bids to undermine voting rights, interfere with electoral processes, and threaten election workers.”
The Bigger Picture |
