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By Kaitlin Lewis
Night Reporter
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Former President Donald Trump is facing four criminal counts in the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation of the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Federal prosecutors allege in the 45-page indictment released Tuesday that Trump "was determined to remain in power" following his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden and repeatedly attempted to block certification of the Electoral College vote on the day of the riot.
The former president is charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights.
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The DOJ's investigation initially focused on Trump's actions leading up to the Capitol attack, when a mob of the former president's supporters ransacked the building in Washington, D.C., while lawmakers were certifying the election results. The indictment also accuses the former president of organizing fake slates of electors in seven key states in 2020 to falsely certify Trump as the president.
Trump's campaign called Tuesday's indictment the "latest corrupt chapter in the continued pathetic attempt by the Biden Crime Family and their weaponized Department of Justice to interfere with the 2024 Presidential Election." The former president is already facing a federal indictment in connection to the DOJ's probe into his handling of classified documents recovered from his Mar-a-Lago estate.
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Trump Is Not Facing Charges Related to Legal Challenges
In the weeks following the 2020 election, Trump and his allies repeatedly—and baselessly—claimed that his election loss was a result of widespread voter fraud. This led to a series of pressure campaigns, the DOJ claims, including pushing state legislators and election officials to "subvert the legitimate election results" and undo votes for Biden.
Among Trump's attempts to contest the election results, however, were several legal challenges to the results of the election, which the DOJ noted in Tuesday's indictment were legal and a protected right of the former president.
"The Defendant had a right, like every American, to speak publicly about the election and even to claim, falsely, that there had been outcome-determinative fraud during the election and that he had won," read the indictment. "He was also entitled to formally challenge the results of the election through lawful and appropriate means, such as by seeking recounts or audits of the popular vote in states or filing lawsuits challenging ballots and procedures."
Trump's efforts to contest the results through legal means, however, were repeatedly shot down in court.
Trump Knew Election Fraud Claims Were False: Indictment
During the weeks after the 2020 election, Trump was repeatedly told by some of his closest allies that his claims about election fraud were untrue, according to the indictment.
Among the people who stood up to Trump's false claims include former Vice President Mike Pence, senior leaders of the Justice Department, former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, senior White House attorneys, and several state legislators and officials, prosecutors claim.
"The Defendant widely disseminated his false claims of election fraud for months, despite the fact that he knew, and in many cases had been informed directly, that they were not true," the indictment read. "The Defendant's knowingly false statements were integral to his criminal plans to defeat the federal government function, obstruct the certification, and interfere with others' right to vote and have their votes counted."
To this day, Trump maintains that the 2020 was a fraudulent election.
Six Co-Conspirators Accused in Fake-Elector Scheme
Prosecutors allege that Trump enlisted six co-conspirators to assist in his illegal attempts to overturn the 2020 election results. While all six individuals remain unnamed in the indictment, prosecutors describe them as several attorneys, a Justice Department official and a political consultant.
The co-conspirators specifically assisted Trump in attempting to establish fake state electors in seven states—Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin—that would fraudulently select Trump as the winner of the election.
"This included causing the fraudulent electors to meet on the day appointed by federal law on which legitimate electors were to gather and cast their votes; cast fraudulent votes for the Defendant; and sign certificates falsely representing that they were legitimate electors," the indictment states.
The co-conspirators are also accused of joining Trump in attempting to pressure Pence into using his ceremonial role during the Electoral College certification proceeding to undo the 2020 results, as well as pressuring state legislators and election officials to overturn their certified results.
Trump Pressed Pence to Refuse Votes on Jan. 6: Feds
The former vice president was a key figure in Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election, the indictment reads, although Pence stood firm in opposition to his former running mate's pressure to intervene with certification proceedings.
According to the indictment, Trump made several phone calls to Pence in the weeks preceding January 6, including on Christmas Day, when the former vice president called to wish Trump a Merry Christmas. Instead, Trump "quickly turned the conversation to January 6 and his request that the Vice President reject electoral votes that day."
Pence reportedly pushed back during the phone call, telling Trump, "You know I don't think I have the authority to change the outcome."
Several similar conversations occurred between Trump and Pence, with the former president at one point telling his running mate that he was "too honest" for rejecting the idea that he had the right to overturn the election results, reads the indictment.
Pence is running against Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. Newsweek reached out to the former vice president's campaign team via email for comment Tuesday night.
Pence Staffer Rejected Fake Electoral Certifications: DOJ
Prosecutors claim that Trump's "agent" worked with an unnamed U.S. senator to "hand- deliver" fraudulent election certifications to Pence on the morning of January 6.
The indictment says that the fake certification documents were signed by Trump's electors in Michigan and Wisconsin, and had asked the senator to give the documents to Pence since they had not otherwise been sent to the vice president.
"When one of the Senator's staffers contacted a staffer for the Vice President by text message to arrange for delivery of what the Senator's staffer had been told were '[a]lternate slate[s] of electors' ... the Vice President's staffer rejected them," the indictment reads.
Pence eventually went on to certify Biden's 2020 victory in the early morning of January 7 after the certification proceedings continued following the siege on the Capitol.
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