August 1, 2023 Trump indicted in special counsel's 2020 election interference probe

The White House declined to comment on former President Donald Trump’s indictment on Tuesday, referring questions to the Department of Justice.

The White House learned of Trump’s indictment through media reports, a White House official said, as was the case with past indictments.

President Joe Biden was at a movie theater in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, watching Oppenheimer when the grand jury handed up the indictment.

The president and first lady arrived at the cinema, Movies at Midway, around 6:30 p.m. ET following dinner at a fish restaurant nearby. Biden is on vacation this week in Rehoboth, and said previously he was looking forward to watching the 3-hour biopic.

The White House has kept a consistent posture of not commenting on investigations and prosecutions in an effort to maintain the independence of the DOJ and avoid the appearance of any political interference.

In a phone call the evening of the January 6 Capitol riot, then-President Donald Trump refused a request from his then-White House Counsel Pat Cipollone to withdraw his objections and allow for Congress’ certification of the 2020 election results, prosecutors said in the new indictment.

The allegation came in a section of the charging documents that describes how Trump allegedly exploited the violence and the chaos at the Capitol that day.

Prosecutors pointed to Trump’s alleged repeated refusals to direct the rioters to depart the Capitol. Trump did eventually tell the rioters to go home in a recorded video message released at 4:17 p.m. local time that day. 

The indictment also describes phone calls that Co-Conspirator 1 – whom appears, based on the description, to be Rudy Giuliani – made to members of Congress that evening.

In a voicemail left with an unidentified US Senator, Giuliani asked the senator to "object to every state and kind of spread this out a little bit like a filibuster,” according to a line from the voicemail quoted in the indictment.

The indictment of Donald Trump stemming from his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election marks the third time the former president has faced criminal charges. 

The latest case against Trump strikes at what's seen as his most serious betrayal of constitutional duties, when his attempts to remain in the White House after losing the 2020 election undermined the long-held American tradition of a peaceful transfer of presidential power.  

The plot to overturn the 2020 election shattered presidential norms and culminated in a previously unthinkable violent assault on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, as Congress met to certify President Joe Biden's victory.

For two months leading up to the attack, Trump had engaged in an unprecedented pressure campaign aimed at state election workers and lawmakers in a handful of battleground states, as well as Justice Department officials and even Trump’s own vice president to persuade them to throw out the 2020 results.  

Smith's move to indict the former president while he is running for a second term in the White House will test whether the criminal justice system can be used to hold Trump to account for his post-election conduct, after a House impeachment of the former president failed in the Senate in February 2021. 

The indictment marks the second time in two months that Smith has brought charges against Trump. In June, Trump was charged with retention of classified documents and conspiring with a top aide to hide them from the government and his own attorneys. And in March, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted Trump on state charges of falsifying business records.   

Trump has pleaded not guilty in both of the prior cases — and is likely to do so again when he’s arraigned on the latest charges.  

The new special counsel indictment comes as Trump remains the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Trump’s March indictment marked the first time in US history that a former president had faced criminal charges. Now there are three separate, concurrent cases where the president is facing criminal allegations – which are all going to play out as Trump seeks to return to the White House in 2024 following his loss to Joe Biden in 2020.

The indictment against former President Donald Trump says he "enlisted co-conspirators to assist him in his criminal efforts to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election and retain power."

The charging documents repeatedly reference six of these co-conspirators, but as is common practice, their identities are withheld because they have not been charged with any crimes. 

However, based on quotes in the indictment and other context, CNN can identify five of the six co-conspirators.   

Leaders in Congress are so far split along partisan lines in their reaction to former President Donald Trump’s indictment, although most of the Senate Republican leadership have yet to weigh in on Tuesday's developments. 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the indictment “the most serious and most consequential thus far.”

The four charges against the former president relate to the special counsel investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election leading up to the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy falsely connected the Hunter Biden developments to the indictment timing, saying it is an “attempt to distract from the news and attack the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, President Trump.”

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell declined to comment on Trump's past two criminal indictments and has yet to weigh in on the latest charges. 

Minority Whip John Thune, who is backing Sen. Tim Scott in GOP presidential campaign, also had not commented. However, last Thursday, when asked about a potential Trump indictment, he said that individuals needed to be held accountable for January 6.

Sen. John Barrasso, the Republican Conference chair, was the first member of Senate GOP leadership to comment on the indictment, saying it showed a “two-tiered system of justice,” and that voters have “lost faith” in the Department of Justice. 

Attorney General Merrick Garland said special counsel Jack Smith and his team "have followed the facts and the law wherever they lead," as he gave a brief statement Tuesday after former President Donald Trump's indictment.

Garland added that any questions related to the indictment "will have to be answered by the filings made in the courtroom."

Special counsel Jack Smith spoke from Washington, DC, after former President Donald Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury in his investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Smith told reporters that he will seek a “speedy trial” and encouraged members of the public to read the indictment.

The newest case against Trump strikes at the former president’s efforts to remain in the White House after losing the 2020 election and undermine the long-held American tradition of a peaceful transfer of presidential power.

As part of Smith’s investigation, Trump was charged with: Conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights.

Smith’s move to bring charges will test whether the criminal justice system can be used to hold Trump to account for his post-election conduct after he was acquitted in his impeachment trial related to his actions that day.

The indictment is the second time in two months that Smith has brought charges against Trump. In June, Trump was charged with retention of classified documents and conspiracy with a top aide to hide them from the government and his own attorneys. And separately in March, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted Trump on state charges of falsifying business records.

Watch Smith's full statement:

Special counsel Jack Smith said the Department of Justice will remain committed in ensuring accountability in the case looking into efforts to overturn the 2020 election leading up to the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

Former President Donald Trump has been indicted on criminal charges by a federal grand jury in the 2020 election interference case.

Smith noted that the indictment is only an allegation, "and that the defendant must be presumed innocent until proven guilty."

Special counsel Jack Smith praised law enforcement who defended the US Capitol during the insurrection on January 6, 2021, calling them "heroes."

Trump was indicted on four counts by a federal grand jury in Smith’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election leading up to the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, according to a court document.