Special prosecutor Jack Smith informed Donald Trump over the weekend, by letter, that he is a "target" of his investigation into the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and other attempts to nullify the election of 2020. This is what the former president indicated yesterday on his network, Truth Socia l.
Smith's letter anticipates a possible impending impeachment of the ultra leader, as happened shortly before he was indicted for the appropriation and concealment of hundreds of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida home and associated falsehoods to his bribery of porn actress Stormy Daniels.
“Deranged Jack Smith, Joe Biden's DOJ prosecutor, sent a letter (it was Sunday night again!) stating that I am the TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation, and gave me only 4 days to inform the Grand Jury, which almost always means an Arrest and Indictment,” Trump posted.
The investigations by the attorney general and the Department of Justice include several actions and omissions by Trump aimed at overturning the election he lost to Biden in 2020. And it is not entirely clear on what points and with what charges the leader Trump himself mentioned the assault on the Capitol, when he referred to January 6, and it is obvious that it was that attempted coup that, under his instigation, culminated his efforts to falsify the elections; efforts that lasted long after the insurrection, which ended with five deaths in the incident plus two suicides of agents in the following days.
The letter that Trump received would indicate that the investigation in question is ending and the Prosecutor's Office is considering charging him in the case. The procedure offers the former president – as he indicated in his message to T ruth Social – the opportunity to testify very soon before the grand jury that, under the direction of the prosecutor, is dealing with the matter. But Trump is not required to appear and, according to experts, he most likely will not; not only because of their proven reluctance to cooperate with the courts, but because it is not often that those investigated take the risks involved in these appearances.
What is very likely is that, in the coming days or weeks, the Department of Justice will present to the grand jury a proposed indictment against Trump. The body is made up of 16 people of which at least 12 should support the imputation for it to be effective.
News of the letter to Trump comes days after it emerged that his former adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, appeared before a grand jury in June in connection with Trump's attempts to overturn or falsify the election results. It was one more of the testimonies obtained in the investigations on this issue, among which there was also that of former Vice President Mike Pence: a key contribution considering that, as president of the Senate, Pence had in his power to maintain or suspend the proclamation of the results that had given victory to Biden. Trump asked him to cancel the session, but he did not. Then the crowd of followers of the ultra leader went against him in the Capitol shouting "hang Pence".
The appearance of Trump's former number two, the content of which has not been made public, took place on April 27 and lasted more than seven hours. Prosecutors asked Pence and Kushner about the former president's state of mind and pretensions regarding the storming of the Capitol, as well as his efforts to raise funds based on his false claims of voter fraud, and whether or not he assumed he had lost.
Kushner told the State Department that he had the impression that Trump truly believed the 2020 election had been stolen from him, The New York Times reported.
Although the grand jury investigation is secret until prosecutors make their verdict official, leaks and analysis of the case indicate the possibility that Trump could be indicted for obstruction of justice and conspiracy to defraud the country by issuance and sending to Congress of false electoral certificates.
The congressional committee that investigated the 6-E agreed in December, after 18 months of investigations, to urge the Prosecutor's Office to charge the former president with these charges of obstruction and fraud, plus that of inciting insurrection. Now we need to see not only the final impeachment, but also the effect it may have on Trump's bid for re-election in 2024. In the United States, neither an impeachment nor a conviction prevents a presidential aspirant from continuing his path to in the White House.
