August 1, 2023 Trump indicted in special counsel's 2020 election interference probe

The indictment alleges that former President Donald Trump and co-conspirators “exploited” the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by continuing efforts to convince members of Congress to delay the certification of the election that day. 

“As violence ensued,” the indictment says in reference to the attack, “the Defendant and co-conspirators exploited the disruption by redoubling efforts to levy false claims of election fraud and convince Members of Congress to further delay the certification based on those claims.”

The indictment also says that Trump deceived rioters to believe then-Vice President Mike Pence could change the election results to make Trump the victor. 

The first count former President Donald Trump is facing, conspiracy to defraud the United States, is brought under a statute that can be used to prosecute a broad range of conspiracies involving two or more people to violate US law.

Two of the counts Trump is facing relate to obstruction of an official proceeding — brought under provisions included in a federal witness tampering statute that has also been used to prosecute some of the rioters who breached the Capitol on January 6 

Those counts carry a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment. The appropriateness of using the law to prosecute the rioters has been litigated in the Capitol breach cases.

Trump also faces a conspiracy against rights charge under a Reconstruction-era civil rights law. The law prohibits two or more people from conspiring to “injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any….the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States.”

It carries a 10 year maximum sentence of imprisonment, unless the conspiracy results in death.

Federal prosecutors say in the indictment of former President Donald Trump that he “was determined to remain in power” after losing the 2020 election.

The prosecutors issued a sweeping indictment of Trump on Tuesday, charging the former president with four separate counts that allege he orchestrated a plot to overturn the 2020 election on and leading up to January 6, 2021.

“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 reads.

Special Counsel Jack Smith included six unindicted and unnamed co-conspirators in his indictment against Donald Trump as part of the federal 2020 election subversion probe.  

Among the six are four unnamed attorneys who allegedly aided Trump in his effort to subvert the 2020 election results.

Also included is one unnamed Justice Department official who “attempted to use the Justice Department to open sham election crime investigations and influence state legislatures with knowingly false claims of election fraud.”  

Smith also mentions an unnamed “political consultant who helped implement a plan to submit fraudulent slates of presidential electors to obstruct the certification proceeding.”

Former President Donald Trump has been summoned to appear before a magistrate judge in Washington, DC at 4 p.m. ET on Thursday, according to the Justice Department.

Trump will make his initial appearance before Magistrate Judge Moxila A. Upadhyaya — who received the indictment against him during a packed hearing in federal court on Tuesday.

The former president has been indicted on four counts by a federal grand jury in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election leading up to the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, according to a court document.

The counts are:

The indictment is the second time in two months that Smith has brought charges against the former president.

CNN's Tierney Sneed and Devan Cole contributed to this report.

Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign organization accused the Biden administration of election interference following news of the former president's indictment Tuesday.

A federal grand jury has indicted former President Donald Trump in special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election leading up to the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

Read the indictment here: 

Former President Donald Trump has been indicted on four counts by a federal grand jury in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election leading up to the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, according to a court document.

The counts are:

The indictment is the second time in two months that Smith has brought charges against the former president.

In June, Trump was charged with the retention of classified documents and conspiracy with a top aide to hide them from the government and his own attorneys. And separately in March, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted Trump on state charges of falsifying business records.

Former President Donald Trump has been indicted by a federal grand jury in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election leading up to the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, according to a court document.

The former president has been informed of his indictment, two sources tell CNN.

This is the third time Trump has been criminally indicted. Smith charged Trump in the classified documents probe in June, and a Manhattan grand jury charged the former president for business fraud in March.

Trump, who is running for president in 2024, pleaded not guilty in both cases.

CNN's Kaitlan Collins and Alayna Treene contributed to this report.