Thrice Indicted

Donald Trump has now received his third indictment. The charges stem from election interference in the 2020 presidential election.

Donald Trump has now been indicted for a third time. The charges are:

• Conspiracy to Defraud the United States

• Conspiracy to Obstruct an Official Proceeding

• Conspiracy Against Rights

• Obstruction of and Attempting Obstruction of an Official Proceeding

These charges are around Trump’s attempts to overturn the fair and just 2020 Presidential election along with the insurrection against America’s Capitol on January 6th.

Additionally there are 6 co-conspirators referenced in the indictment. While they are not named, they mainly appear to be Trump’s former lawyers including Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell. It looks as if independent indictments will be sought for the co-conspirators.

These new charges bring Trump up to a total of 78 felony charges against him across three indictments, with a potential fourth indictment upcoming from GA based around election interference in that state.

Here is a rundown of the charges, the cases, and what an indictment entails:

Hush Money

Trump’s first indictment came from New York on March 30th. This case stemmed from the hush money payments Trump paid to the porn actress Stormy Daniels. The charges are not specifically about making a hush money payment, and are instead 34 counts of Falsifying Business Records.

Falsifying Business Records is typically a misdemeanor unless it was committed in relation with another crime, at which point it can be raised to a felony, as it was in Trump’s case.

Classified Documents Case

Trump’s second indictment came on June 9th and was related to his mishandling of classified materials. There were initially 37 charges. On July 27th, 3 additional charges were added, bringing the total to 40 charges.

• 32 Counts of: Willful Retention of National Defense Information

• 3 Counts of: Withholding or Concealing Documents in a Federal Investigation

• 2 Counts of: False Statements

• 1 Count: Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice

• 1 Count: Scheming to Conceal

• 1 Count: Altering, Destroying, Mutilating or Concealing an Object.

This case stems from the fact that Trump took classified documents when he left the White House, lied about having the documents, attempted to hide the documents, attempted to destroy security footage from Mar-A-Largo, and moved the documents multiple times.

The evidence in this case is particularly damning including recordings of Trump discussing having the documents and acknowledging they were not declassified.

These documents included US and ally vulnerabilities, US nuclear secrets, even battle plans and maps.

There is a link to a previous article that discusses the situation around this case in more detail.

2020 Election

Leading up to the 2020 Presidential Election, Donald Trump routinely made statements saying that the only way he could lose is if the election was rigged. Once Trump lost the fair election, he proceeded to try to find a way to overturn it. 

Trump made the infamous call to Georgia trying to “find enough votes” to switch the state voting results in his favor. 

Trump’s lawyer John Eastman, who is the second unnamed co-conspirator in this indictment, hatched a plan to install fake electors who would say that Trump won.

Trump’s team attempted to install fake electors across 7 states and Senator Ron Johnson allegedly even attempted to hand a fake elector list to Pence during the election certification. Pence declined to take the list.

Michigan has begun prosecution of fake electors and Georgia has offered immunity to 8 of the 16 fake electors for their testimony in ongoing cases around attempted election interference in the state.

Other charges against Trump are connected to the January 6th insurrection. The charges state that Trump deceived the insurrectionists by making them believe that Pence could change the outcome and make Trump the victor. In addition, charges state that Trump exploited the insurrection by continuing to pressure members of Congress to delay certification of the election results.

Sexual Abuse

Trump has also been found liable of sexual abuse against E. Jean Carroll and Trump was ordered to pay her $5 million in damages. Trump continued to defame E. Jean Carroll after the ruling and is now facing another civil case early next year which seeks an additional $10 million in damages.

Several other women have also alleged sexual assault by Donald Trump and five Miss Teen USA contestants, as young as 15 years old at the time, claimed that Trump walked in on them while they were changing.

Trump himself made comments stating that he would walk into Miss USA and Miss Universe changing rooms to “inspect the contest” and made comments about “grabbing women by the pussy”.

What is an Indictment?

An indictment is when a grand jury, composed of 23 impartial individuals, hears evidence from prosecutors and witnesses. The grand jury then votes in private on if there is sufficient evidence to charge an individual with a crime.

All of the proceedings for a grand jury are sealed. This is to protect the jury and to protect the individual/s who might be charged with a crime.

The entire purpose of a grand jury is to ensure that innocent people are not harassed by unfounded prosecution involving serious crimes. If a grand jury does not find that there is sufficient evidence of a crime, then no prosecution will happen.

It is important to remember that an indictment does not equal guilt. Trump is still innocent unless he is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

It is also important to remember that an indictment is not done at behest of the President, nor a political party. It follows due process and, as stated above, is there to make sure defendants do not face baseless prosecutions.

Currently, Trump’s schedule looks like this:

• Aug 3, 2023 - Arraignment on Jan 6 charges

• Oct 2, 2023 - NY civil fraud trial

• Jan 15, 2024 - 2nd E. Jean Carroll defamation trial

• March 25, 2024 - NY hush money trial

• May 20, 2024 - Classified documents trial

• TBD- Potential Georgia indictment

The cases against Donald Trump are extremely important, not only to prosecute these gravely serious crimes against our nation and our elections, but to remind all of America that no one is above the law.