The charges mark the unprecedented third criminal indictment against the former president since he launched his latest bid for the 2024 Republican nomination. No other U.S. president, current or former, has ever faced criminal charges.
The election probe was led by special counsel Jack Smith, who also oversaw a separate investigation into Trump’s retention of classified documents at his resort home Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House in 2021. Trump, in June, was charged with 37 counts related to his alleged efforts to conceal those records from the government. He received additional charges in the case last week, stemming from an alleged effort to delete surveillance footage from the Palm Beach club.
Trump has pleaded not guilty in that case, which is set to go to trial in May.
Key points:
Trump case assigned to Judge Tanya Chutkan, an Obama appointee
Trump’s election interference case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, according to the docket in federal court in Washington, D.C.
Chutkan, 61, was appointed to the district in 2014 by then-President Barack Obama.
She is the only federal judge in D.C. who has delivered sentences against defendants in cases related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot that are longer than the sentences that the DOJ asked for, according to NBC News.
Chutkan’s assignment offers a contrast from Judge Aileen Cannon, the Trump-appointed judge presiding over the former president’s federal classified documents case. Cannon previously caught criticism from legal experts after she delivered rulings that favored Trump in a legal matter related to those classified records.
— Kevin Breuninger
Republicans come to Trump’s defense
Supporters of former President Donald Trump in Congress rallied to speak out against the new list of indictments.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, tweeted Tuesday that Trump “did nothing wrong!”
“When you drain The Swamp, The Swamp fights back,” Jordan added.
GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., called it “yet another dark day in America” in a scathing statement against the Justice Department and President Joe Biden.
“Today’s sham indictment is yet another desperate attempt to distract attention away from the mounting evidence of Joe Biden’s involvement in his family’s illegal peddling scheme — one of the greatest political corruption scandals in history,” Stefanik said, adding that Trump “had every right under the First Amendment to correctly raise concerns about election integrity in 2020.”
—Chelsey Cox
Here are the four criminal charges Trump faces in new indictment
Trump was hit with four serious felonies in the new indictment, accusing him of fraudulently trying to undo his loss in the 2020 election.
The first charge, conspiracy to defraud the United States, has a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison if convicted.
Two other charges — conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, and obstruction of an official proceeding — carry much heavier maximums: 20 years in prison.
The fourth charge against Trump, conspiracy against rights, has a maximum possible sentence of 10 years behind bars.
- Dan Mangan
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