A federal grand jury indicted former President Donald Trump late Tuesday over his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump – who is widely considered President Joe Biden’s top competitor in the 2024 presidential race – was 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.
“Despite having lost, the Defendant was determined to remain in power. So for more than two months following election day on November 3, 2020, the Defendant spread lies that there had been outcome-determinative fraud in the election and that he had actually won,” the indictment states.
“These claims were false, and the Defendant knew that they were false. But the Defendant repeated and widely disseminated them anyway — to make his knowingly false claims appear legitimate, create an intense national atmosphere of mistrust and anger, and erode public faith in the administration of the election,” it continues.
Trump posted an optimistic message for his supporters Wednesday morning in the wake of the indictment.
“THANK YOU TO EVERYONE!!! I HAVE NEVER HAD SO MUCH SUPPORT ON ANYTHING BEFORE. THIS UNPRECEDENTED INDICTMENT OF A FORMER (HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL!) PRESIDENT, & THE LEADING CANDIDATE, BY FAR, IN BOTH THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND THE 2024 GENERAL ELECTION, HAS AWOKEN THE WORLD TO THE CORRUPTION, SCANDAL, & FAILURE THAT HAS TAKEN PLACE IN THE UNITED STATES FOR THE PAST THREE YEARS,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “AMERICA IS A NATION IN DECLINE, BUT WE WILL MAKE IT GREAT AGAIN, GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE. I LOVE YOU ALL!!!”
Last week, Biden’s Department of Justice charged Trump with three more crimes in the classified documents case.
According to the updated federal indictment, in addition to 37 other charges, Trump is accused of additional counts of willful retention of national defense information and obstruction.
This was a breaking news story. The details were periodically updated as more information became available.
