Former President Donald Trump was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury on four counts related to the efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, according to court documents.
Trump was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, witness tampering and conspiracy against the rights of citizens and obstruction of an attempt to obstruct an official proceeding.
The charges were unsealed two weeks after the former president said he had learned he may be charged with a federal grand jury investigating the siege of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. That’s when protesters loyal to Trump stormed the Capitol in an attempt to prevent then Vice President Mike Pence from performing his ceremonial role of certifying the presidential election in favor of the winner, Joe Biden.
Tuesday’s development is the latest in a series of legal troubles that are likely to loom over next year’s presidential election. Trump is the front-runner among Republicans for his party’s nomination. He also faces separate federal charges over allegedly obstructing an investigation into classified documents at his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago.
In addition to these federal charges, Trump is fighting criminal charges over accounting for hush money payments in Manhattan; a defamation lawsuit filed by E. Jean Carroll, the writer; and a grand jury investigation in Georgia over his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in that state.
The one unsealed lays out a case against Trump and those around him as he scrambled to try to hold onto power even after losing the 2020 presidential election by 74 votes in the electoral college and more than 7 million in the popular vote.
Trump’s refusal to acknowledge the results began on…
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