“The United States of America v. Donald J. Trump” instantly became one of the most consequential documents in American history.

Special counsel Jack Smith unveiled his case alleging that former President Donald Trump broke several laws in his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, with a grand jury indictment returned Tuesday that illustrated the depth and breadth of the federal criminal investigation. Prosecutors said in the new charging documents that Trump “was determined to remain in power” after losing the 2020 election, and that he and six unindicted co-conspirators orchestrated a plot to overturn the results on and leading up to January 6, 2021.

Trump faces four counts, accused of conspiring to defraud the United States and to obstruct an official proceeding – the latter a charge that has already successfully been brought against rioters who breached the Capitol. In another charge brought against the former president, prosecutors are relying on a Reconstruction-era civil rights law that prohibits conspiracies to deprive a person of their rights – in this case, “the right to vote and have one’s vote counted.”…

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/01/politics/takeaways-trump-indictment-january-6/index.html

Trump finally indicted for Jan. 6 plot: Here’s why this is the big one

Trump’s latest indictment will reverberate for years to come

“The United States of America v. Donald J. Trump” instantly became one of the most consequential documents in American history. Tuesday’s 45-page indictment took the country to an unprecedented, profound and even tragic place. For the first time, America is set to put on trial a former president for trying to destroy its democratic system because, as the indictment put it, “he was determined to remain in power” despite having lost an election. And he’s not just any former president – Trump’s the front-runner for the GOP nomination, whom polling shows is closely matched with President Joe Biden in a hypothetical rematch.

The indictment details a clear and chilling alleged plot to subvert the will of voters in 2020 and to sever the chain of voluntary transfers of power between presidents inaugurated by George Washington leaving his nation to “command its own fortunes” when he declined a new term in 1796.

Special counsel Jack Smith’s charges are more significant than those in two earlier indictments against Trump in separate cases because this indictment from a Washington grand jury strikes at the core of America’s founding values and the republic’s constitutional underpinnings. Trump has pleaded not guilty in the other two cases – the first in Manhattan over business fraud charges related to a hush money payment and the second over alleged mishandling of classified documents – and he denies wrongdoing in the aftermath of the 2020 election.

Moments after the indictment became public, bitter recriminations from his supporters and claims of partisan persecution showed how it will deepen an already tortured national political estrangement….

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/02/politics/trump-latest-indictment-consequences/index.html