Falsification of votes, interruption of the recount, the assault on the Capitol… the keys to the expected third indictment of Donald Trump

Donald Trump has said this week that he believes he will be charged in the criminal investigation for the assault on the Capitol. The former president of the United States says that he has received a letter from the Justice Department prosecutor, Jack Smith, in which he explains that he is the “target” of the grand jury in the criminal investigation into attempts to annul the result of the 2020 presidential election and the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, in which five people died and four are convicted of sedition.

the third card

In the United States, receiving a letter of this type is usually the last step before a citizen is charged.. Trump, in fact, received similar letters just days before he was charged with mishandling classified documents and hush money payments to actress Stormie Daniels during the 2016 election.

If so, the Republican politician could face a third accusation this weekend, predicts the Politico website.. It could be even sooner, according to The Independent, which talks that the indictment could be handed down this Friday.

The second notice of a federal process

This is the second time that Smith — “the deranged Jack Smith,” in Trump's words — has informed the former president that he is being investigated in a federal proceeding.. The first was last month, over Trump's alleged misuse of classified documents after leaving office and obstructing government efforts to recover them.

What charges can be charged this time?

The former president now faces 71 felony charges, though that tally could reach triple digits if he is arrested again in the coming days.. But this time it is not clear what charges can be brought against Trump. Washington analysts believe they could involve conspiracy to defraud the government, as well as obstruction of official process, a crime created after the Enron case.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the letter that Justice has sent to Trump cites three facts for which he could be accused: deprivation of rights, conspiracy to commit a crime against the nation and tampering with a witness.

Obstruct the vote count?

In this case, the alleged crime would be obstructing the Electoral College vote count on January 6. The Government has successfully prosecuted other of the protagonists of the capture of the Capitol with this position. But it seems more difficult for the Justice Department to prove Trump's guilt in that case than it is to establish that he mishandled classified documents containing defense secrets that were seized at Mar-a-Lago.

Did he try to falsify the Michigan votes?

Precisely, the Democratic attorney general of Michigan, Dana Nessel, has filed charges against 16 officials and activists of the Republican Party who created a false list of voters that sought to cast Electoral College votes for Trump despite the fact that the Democrats won that state.. It is the first indictment related to January 6 beyond those brought against the people who besieged the Capitol.

Trump's Counterattack

Trump showed Tuesday that he is willing to once again shatter faith in American democracy to protect himself.. “If you say anything about an election, they want to put you in jail for the rest of your life,” he said Tuesday in Iowa, alluding to the 2020 race he insists was rigged against him.

The former president suggested that day that Congress should impeach Biden (a document released by members of his party in Congress says that Biden's family received funds from a Chinese energy company).

Can you go to jail?

The charges against Trump are piling up and the question Americans are asking is if he will end up behind bars. In case of being convicted in any of the cases that he is dragging, there is speculation about the possibility that he will be imprisoned. That would mean federal prosecutors and judges would have to consider jailing a presidential candidate or even the victor of the 2024 election.

For example, the federal case for Alleged Mishandling of Classified Documents includes charges of intentional withholding of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding of a document or record, corrupt concealment of a document or record, concealment of a document in a federal investigation, plan to conceal, and false statements and representations.

Each charge carries a maximum sentence of between five and 20 years.. A potential sentence, if convicted, could include decades in prison, The Independent estimates.

An “extraordinary test” for the system

“Even without Trump's incendiary rhetoric, the political and judicial systems would face an extraordinary test, given that the frontrunner for the Republican Party's nomination is being prosecuted by the Justice of his potential Democratic rival in November 2024,” Stephen Collinson writes on CNN when assessing the enormous gravity and importance of the moment.

You should care more than Mar-a-Lago's offenses. [Manipulating the result of an election] is one of the great constitutional insults of our time.”

If Trump is finally accused of trying to annul the elections in key swing states, this would be the first time that the US —the State, the nation…— singles out a former president for an attempt to destroy constitutional institutions and the fundamental principle that voters choose their representatives.

“You should be more concerned…. that the offenses of Mar-a-Lago […] It is one of the great constitutional insults of our time. The country owes it to itself to reaffirm the rule of law and show that at least America's vision is something we are willing to protect and hopefully deter (future threats to that vision) by punishing Trump if he is convicted,” Ty Cobb, a former Trump attorney, told CNN cameras.