A new round of federal charges against former US President Donald Trump could come in a matter of days.
This was revealed by the Republican leader, who reported on his Truth Social account that he is part of a Justice Department investigation into the assault on the Capitol, which took place on January 6, 2021, and on efforts to annul the 2020 election result.
Trump revealed in a post that he received a letter from Justice Department prosecutor Jack Smith giving him four days to testify before the grand jury, adding that notification “almost always means an arrest and indictment.”
“The upset Jack Smith, prosecutor of the Justice Department of (US President) Joe Biden, sent a letter (…) that affirms that I am a target of the investigation of the Grand Jury on January 6,” he said.
“This witch hunt is all about election interference and complete and total use of law enforcement as a political weapon,” said the 77-year-old magnate.
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The Department of Justice has “effectively issued a third indictment and arrest of Joe Biden’s number one political opponent who widely dominates in the race for the Presidency,” Trump said.
According to a source familiar with the case, The letter sent by Smith lists multiple federal criminal laws that the former president would have violated.
The statutes listed include one that makes it a crime obstruct an official proceeding, a charge that has appeared in numerous lawsuits against individuals who attacked the Capitol, and conspired to commit a crime or defraud the United States.
Rolling Stone, which previously reported details about the letter, also said the document listed a crime for willfully depriving a person of their rights under the US Constitution and other laws.
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An avalanche of lawsuits against him
The new indictment for the assault on the Capitol would add another trial date to Trump’s busy schedule, with two trials already scheduled for the heart of the 2024 primary election season.
Trump is accused of mishandling classified information and obstruction of justice. At the same time, he is accused of falsifying commercial records to hide payments of money in exchange for the silence of the porn star Stormy Daniels.
Trump is also a defendant in a civil suit brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, who claims the former president sexually assaulted and defamed her. And a Georgia prosecutor is expected to announce the result of her investigation into the pressures allegedly exerted by the former president to try to change the result of the presidential elections in this southern state of the country before September.
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And it is that the avalanche of legal problems that Trump is facing comes just as the season of Republican presidential primaries heats up. The trial in the E. Jean Carroll case, for example, is scheduled to begin Jan. 15—the same day as the Iowa caucuses—and could continue through races in New Hampshire and Nevada.
The truth is that the arrival of more trials could distance Trump from the campaign and take him to court for months in the middle of an election year. Although his legal troubles have helped him with the voters for now, that support his thesis that the administration of President Joe Biden has turned the Department of Justice into a weapon to attack him politically.
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Since he was indicted in Florida on June 13 in the documents case, in fact, Trump has widened his lead over his main rival by 3.5 percentage points in the RealClearPolitics average of national polls. He now leads Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis: 54 percent to 20 percent.
During an interview on CNN on Tuesday, DeSantis suggested that the upcoming trials could be a distraction for Trump. and limit their effectiveness in the general election campaign. “If I’m the nominee, we can focus on President Biden’s failures,” he said.
Former President Trump, for his part, has already suggested that his country’s Congress should initiate an impeachment trial against Biden.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With Bloomberg and AFP
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