WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump was indicted Tuesday on charges he conspired to defraud the country he used to lead and attempted to prevent the peaceful transfer of presidential power to Joe Biden.
“The purpose of the conspiracy was to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election by using knowingly false claims of election fraud to obstruct the government function by which those results are collected, counted and certified,” the indictment from special counsel Jack Smith’s office says.
The indictment marks a historic moment for a nation less than 250 years old — the first time a former president has faced criminal charges for trying to overturn the bedrock of democracy, a free and fair election. While Trump's failure to reverse his defeat was a credit to the guardrails of that democracy, the ability to prosecute him may renew the stress test on the constitutional design.
The allegation that Trump used "dishonesty, fraud, and deceit" to subvert the 2020 election with "pervasive and destabilizing lies about election fraud" comes after a sprawling investigation that included testimony from dozens of White House aides and advisors ranging in seniority up to former Vice President Mike Pence.
The indictment accuses Trump of taking part in three criminal conspiracies: "to defraud the United States by using dishonesty, fraud and deceit" to obstruct the electoral vote process; to "impede the January 6 congressional proceeding at which the collected results of the presidential election are counted and certified;" and "against the right to vote and to have that vote counted."
He's due to be arraigned on the charges on Thursday.
"My office will seek a speedy trial so that our evidence can be tested in court and judged by a jury of citizens," Smith said after the indictment was made public.
Smith pointed to the law enforcement who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6 in unveiling the indictment, calling them "heroes" and "patriots."
"They did not just defend a building with people sheltering in it," Smith said. "They put their lives on the line to defend who we are as a country and as a people. They defended the very institutions and principles that define the United States."
The indictment was handed down two weeks after Trump announced that he'd been notified he received a target letter in the probe led by special counsel Jack Smith, who brought charges against the former president last month in a separate case over Trump's handling of classified documents after leaving office.
Trump called the indictment "fake" in a post on his social media website shortly before news of the filing was made public.
"Why didn’t they do this 2.5 years ago? Why did they wait so long? Because they wanted to put it right in the middle of my campaign. Prosecutorial Misconduct!" his Truth Social post said.
Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing over his actions after the 2020 election, blasting Smith as "corrupt" and labeling the investigation as "election interference." Trump launched his 2024 presidential bid in November, after the Justice Department had already been investigating his ties to the violence that took place at the U.S. Capitol during the presidential vote count on Jan. 6.
'Beamed down from the mothership'
The indictment says the conspiracy started soon after the 2020 election. It does not name Trump's co-conspirators, but identifies four as attorneys, one as a Justice Department official and the sixth as a political consultant.
The person named as co-conspirator #1 appears to be Rudy Giuliani, based on previous testimony and other records. It cites his efforts to overturn the election results using bogus fraud claims in Arizona and Georgia.
Giuliani's attorney Robert Costello said co-conspirator #1 did appear to be his client, but added that "Every fact that Mayor Giuliani possesses about this case establishes the good faith basis President Trump had for the actions he took." Costello also criticized the indictment, charging that it "eviscerates the First Amendment."
Co-conspirator #2, who advocated for a plan to use fake electors to challenge the election results and allegedly pressured Pence to go along with the plan, is lawyer John Eastman, his attorney Harvey Silverglate confirmed to NBC News. Silverglate said they plan to send Smith a memo to explain why Eastman is innocent.
Co-conspirator #3 appears to be Sidney Powell.
