Washington, Aug 2 Former US President Donald Trump was indicted on a slew of charges for trying to overturn the 2020 election verdict, which put Joe Biden in the White House, stay in power by making "false" claims of election fraud and for fueling the January 6 "attack" on the US Capitol in pursuit of those goals with these "lies".
Trump has been indicted -- and arrested -- twice previously on multiple charges regarding payment of hush money to an adult film star to keep quiet about their affair (by New York state) and (by the federal government) for spiriting away classified papers from his presidency instead of turning them over to official archives as required by law.
These indictments, and arrests that follow, had made Trump the most only American President facing this kind of legal jeopardy -- and there is more coming as Georgia state pursues a similar case of trying to overturn the 2020 election verdict with similar election fraud claims -- but they will stop him from continuing his campaign for the White House in the upcoming 2024 election.
Trump will be arraigned on Thursday.
"Despite having lost, the defendant was determined to remain in power," said the four-count and 45-page indictment, with the help of false claims and lies.
"These claims were false, and the defendant knew that they were false. In fact, the defendant was notified repeatedly that his claims were untrue -- often by the people on whom he relied for candid advice on important matters, and who were best positioned to know the facts -- and he deliberately disregarded the truth," the indictment states.
Jack Smith, the special prosecutor for this case and the one about Trump's mishandling of confidential papers, said announcing the charges, "The attack on our nation's capitol on January 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy."
"It was fueled by lies, lies by the defendant."
Trump responded to the indictment with a post on 'Truth Social', he launched after being banned from the popular social media platform Twitter.
"Why didn't they bring this ridiculous case 2.5 years ago? They wanted it right in the middle of my campaign, that's why!" he wrote.
Prosecuting a former President takes time, for one, And, two, Trump is believed by many to have launched his third run for the White House to protect himself from these kinds of legal problems. That he can sought to describe them as a politically motivated move by President Biden against his top Republican rival.
Trump is the current top contender for the Republican ticket.
The Tuesday indictment refers to several co-conspirators but does not name them.
But US media reports indicted Rudy Giuliani, who was Trump's personal lawyer and led the lies barrage with his legal team.
--IANS
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