Page 2 - aruba-today-20230802

A2 UP FRONT
Wednesday 2 august 2023

Trump charged for efforts to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss

Continued from Front

Federal prosecutors say
Donald Trump was “deter-
mined to remain in power”
in conspiracies that tar-
geted a “bedrock function
of the United States fed-
eral government: the na-
tion’s process of collecting,
counting and certifying the
results of the presidential
election.”
Trump is due in court on
Thursday before U.S. District
Judge Tanya Chutkan.
The criminal case comes
while Trump leads the field
of Republicans vying to
capture their party’s presi-
dential nomination. It is
sure to be dismissed by
the former president and
his supporters — and even
some of his rivals — as just
another politically moti-
vated prosecution. Yet the
charges stem from one of
the most serious threats to President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a rally in Washington, on Jan. 6, 2021.
American democracy in Associated Press
modern history.
They focus on the turbu- The mounting criminal cas- reverse his election loss to some of Trump’s lawyers, another vicious act of Elec-
lent two months after the es against Trump — not to Biden there in 2020. The post-election fundrais- tion Interference on behalf
November 2020 election in mention multiple civil cases district attorney of Fulton ing, a chaotic December of the Deep State to try
which Trump refused to ac- — are unfolding in the heat County is expected to 2020 meeting at the White and stop the Silent Majority
cept his loss and spread lies of the 2024 race. A con- announce a decision on House in which some Trump from having a voice in your
that victory was stolen from viction in this case, or any whether to indict the former aides discussed the possi- own country.”
him. The turmoil resulted in other, would not prevent president in early August. bility of seizing voting ma- Attorney General Merrick
the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. Trump from pursuing the The investigation of Trump’s chines and the enlistment Garland last year appoint-
6, 2021, when Trump loyal- White House or serving as efforts to overturn the 2020 of fake electors to submit ed Smith, an international
ists violently broke into the president. election was led by Justice certificates to the Nation- war crimes prosecutor who
building, attacked police In New York, state pros- Department special coun- al Archives and Congress also led the Justice Depart-
officers and disrupted the ecutors have charged sel Jack Smith. His team of falsely asserting that Trump, ment’s public corruption
congressional counting of Trump with falsifying busi- prosecutors has questioned not Biden, had won their section, as special coun-
electoral votes. ness records about a hush senior Trump administration states’ votes. sel to investigate efforts to
In between the election money payoff to a porn officials before a grand jury Trump has been trying to undo the 2020 election and
and the riot, Trump urged actor before the 2016 elec- in Washington, including use the mounting legal Trump’s retention of hun-
local election officials to tion. The trial begins in late Pence and top lawyers from troubles to his political ad- dreds of classified docu-
undo voting results in their March. In Florida, the Justice the Trump White House. vantage, claiming without ments at his Palm Beach,
states, pressured former Department has brought Rudy Giuliani, a Trump evidence on social media Florida, home, Mar-a-Lago.
Vice President Mike Pence more than three dozen fel- lawyer who pursued post- and at public events that Although Trump has derid-
to halt the certification of ony counts against Trump election legal challenges, the cases are being driven ed him as “deranged” and
electoral votes and falsely accusing him of illegally spoke voluntarily to pros- by Democratic prosecutors suggested that he is po-
claimed that the election possessing classified docu- ecutors as part of a proffer out to hurt his 2024 election litically motivated, Smith’s
had been stolen — a no- ments after leaving the agreement, in which a per- campaign. past experience includes
tion repeatedly rejected by White House and conceal- son’s statements can’t be The indictments have overseeing significant pros-
judges. ing them from the govern- used against them in any helped his campaign raise ecutions against high-pro-
The indictment had been ment. The trial begins in future criminal case that is millions of dollars from sup- file Democrats.
expected since Trump said late May.The latest federal brought. porters, though he raised The Justice Department’s
in mid-July that the Justice indictment against Trump Prosecutors also inter- less after the second than investigation into the ef-
Department informed him focuses heavily on actions viewed election officials in the first, raising questions forts to overturn the 2020
he was a target of its long- taken in Washington, and Georgia, Wisconsin, Michi- about whether subsequent election began well be-
running Jan. 6 investigation. the trial will be held there, gan and elsewhere who charges will have the same fore Smith’s appointment,
A bipartisan House com- in a courthouse located came under pressure from impact. proceeding alongside
mittee that spent months between the White House Trump and his associates A fundraising committee separate criminal probes
investigating the run-up to he once occupied and the to change voting results backing Trump’s candida- into the Jan. 6 rioters them-
the Capitol riot also rec- Capitol his supporters once in states won by Biden, a cy began soliciting contri- selves.
ommended prosecuting stormed. No trial date has Democrat. butions just hours after the More than 1,000 people
Trump on charges, includ- been set. Focal points of the Justice ex-president revealed he have been charged in
ing aiding an insurrection Prosecutors in Georgia Department’s election was the focus of the Justice connection with the insur-
and obstructing an official are investigating efforts meddling investigation in- Department’s Jan. 6 inves- rection, including some
proceeding. by Trump and his allies to cluded the role played by tigation, casting it as “just with seditious conspiracy.q