TheQuartering [7/18/2023]
Former President Donald Trump claims he received a letter Sunday from Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith notifying him that he is a “target” in the agency’s investigation of the January 6 Capitol riots, indicating he could soon face his third round of charges since leaving office.
Trump repeated his narrative that the probe was a partisan effort to aid President Joe Biden’s re-election changes and said that with the letter, the Justice Department has “effectively issued a third indictment and Arrest of Joe Biden’s NUMBER ONE POLITICAL OPPONENT, who is largely dominating him in the race for the Presidency.”
The former president pleaded not guilty in June to 37 federal felony counts alleging he mishandled classified documents after leaving office. He also pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in Manhattan criminal court in April in a separate case related to an alleged hush-money scheme prosecutors say he orchestrated to hide affair allegations ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Smith’s probe into Trump’s role in the January 6 Capitol riots centers around whether he attempted to overturn results of the 2020 presidential election and incited his supporters to break into the Capitol. Smith’s office has interviewed an array of witnesses in the case, including former Vice President Mike Pence—who Trump’s supporters pressured to resist certifying the electoral college results in the 2020 election—along with his daughter, Ivanka Trump, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
The district attorney’s office in Fulton County, Georgia, is also investigating Trump’s role in efforts to overturn election results in the state. A grand jury was convened earlier this month to examine the evidence against him after a separate, special purpose grand jury interviewed more than 75 witnesses and published a report that suggests charges, including perjury, could be merited. Trump on Monday lost his bid to toss out the evidence against him in the Fulton County case when the state’s Supreme Court dismissed his attempt to essentially shut down the probe.