By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
Special Counsel Jack Smith, in a comprehensive 174-page report submitted to Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, concluded a thorough investigation into former President Donald J. Trump’s actions aimed at overturning the 2020 presidential election results, and the report concluded that there was sufficient evidence to not only convict Trump but withstand any higher court challenges to such a conviction.
The damning report meticulously documents attempts by the now-incoming president to disrupt the lawful transfer of power and manipulate the electoral outcome. The investigations delineated two principal areas: the direct manipulation of election results through pressure on state officials and the unlawful retention of classified documents post-presidency. Despite significant public and personal attacks, Smith’s team strictly adhered to fairness and non-partisanship, the report said.
Smith details specific incidents and revealed that Trump applied intense pressure on several state officials, leveraging baseless claims of electoral fraud to alter the outcomes. Notably, on January 2, 2021, Trump explicitly requested Georgia’s Secretary of State to “find 11,780 votes,” precisely the number required to overturn Biden’s victory.
The report also exposed a coordinated scheme to submit fraudulent electoral certificates from seven states where Trump lost. This was part of a broader strategy to obstruct the January 6, 2021, Congressional certification. Smith said Trump and his associates orchestrated this plan, despite clear indications from numerous officials, including Republicans, who affirmed the election’s integrity and resisted these subversive efforts. Following a rigorous investigation, the Special Counsel’s office found “substantial federal interests in prosecuting Mr. Trump, citing the paramount importance of protecting electoral integrity and the peaceful transfer of power.”
“Our work rested upon the fundamental value of our democracy that we exist as a government of laws and not of men,” Smith concluded.
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
This week marks 45 months since the devastating January 6 attack, where over 140 police officers were assaulted as rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, delaying the certification of the 2020 presidential election results.
Officials said the attack caused over $2.8 million in damages to the Capitol in a report by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia while outlining the nearly four-year aftermath of the insurrection. Since then, the Department of Justice said it has launched one of the most extensive investigations in US history. Approximately 1,532 individuals have been charged in federal court for their roles in the attack.
The charges are extensive and include 571 counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers. Of these, 164 individuals allegedly wielded deadly or dangerous weapons, including firearms, chemical sprays, tasers, and makeshift weapons fashioned from objects like flagpoles and office furniture. Additionally, 171 defendants are accused of entering restricted areas with deadly weapons, while 87 face charges for destruction of government property.
Among the most severe charges, 18 defendants face accusations of seditious conspiracy, with prosecutors alleging an organized attempt to overthrow the government by force. Charges related to the theft of government property have been brought against 66 individuals. Nearly all defendants face some form of trespassing or disorderly conduct charges, as the DOJ said it continues to seek comprehensive accountability.
The expansive prosecution effort has led to approximately 943 guilty pleas, with 304 felony admissions. Of these, 161 pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement, 122 admitted to obstructing law enforcement during civil disorder, and 67 admitted to assault with a deadly weapon. Nearly 1,000 cases have reached sentencing, with over 600 individuals receiving prison terms and 141 allowed to serve their sentences in home detention.
The DOJ’s pursuit of justice has been impacted in 259 cases by the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Fischer v. United States about the proper use of the felony charge of obstructing an official proceeding. So far, prosecutors have dismissed these charges in 73 cases, while evaluating others. Despite the ruling, the DOJ said it remains firm, with all affected defendants still facing other charges related to their involvement in the Capitol attack that eventually led to the deaths of several police officers. The man who carried out a pepper-spray attack on a U.S. Capitol Police officer who died the day after the riot received an 80-month sentence.
Julian Khater, 32, who admitted in a guilty plea he had used the pepper spray against Officer Brian Sicknick and at least two other officers, told U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan the rash actions he took that day were not in his nature. He said he wished he could take them back. Sicknick, 42, died of a stroke a day later.
In a 165-page court filing released earlier this month, Special Counsel Jack Smith outlined new allegations against the twice-impeached and 34 times convicted former President Donald Trump, accusing him of engaging in “increasingly desperate” actions to cling to power after his election loss. The filing detailed Trump’s alleged strategy to incite his supporters, pushing them toward violence on January 6. “When the defendant lost the 2020 presidential election, he resorted to crimes to try to stay in office,” the filing states.
The filing also described Trump’s public statements as calculated moves to provoke anger among his supporters, even as his advisers discredited his claims of voter fraud. According to prosecutors, Trump privately dismissed his lawyer Sidney Powell’s fraud claims as “crazy,” while continuing to use similar rhetoric in public. Prosecutors allege that Trump “laid the groundwork for his crimes well before” Election Day, including by promoting doubt in the electoral process and planning to declare victory immediately.
US District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who has overseen the case, recently addressed Trump’s defense team’s claims of partisan bias. “Defendant’s opposition brief repeatedly accuses the government of bad-faith partisan bias,” Chutkan wrote. “These accusations, for which Defendant provides no support, continue a pattern of defense filings focusing on political rhetoric rather than addressing the legal issues at hand.”
Meanwhile, the DOJ has vowed to continue prosecuting fugitives, and the FBI recently released videos of suspects involved in assaults on law enforcement, seeking public assistance in identifying individuals who remain at large. The Bureau is also pursuing fugitives like Evan Neumann, Adam Villarreal, and Paul Belosic and is encouraging anyone with information to contact them at 1-800-CALL-FBI or visit tips.fbi.gov.
In a bombshell decision, a federal judge dismissed the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump on Monday, ruling that the appointment of Special Counsel Jack Smith was unconstitutional. Smith’s appointment, according to Judge Aileen M. Cannon, a fervent supporter of Trump who the former president himself appointed, violated the Constitution’s appointments clause because neither the president nor the Senate nominated or confirmed him. Several legal experts and news reports immediately noted that Judge Cannon’s ruling defies decades of legal precedent, including decisions dating back to the Watergate era, that have upheld the legality of appointing independent prosecutors. The timing of the decision is particularly notable, coming on the first day of the Republican National Convention, where Trump is expected to be officially nominated as the party’s presidential candidate. Smith’s team filed the case, which accused the already 34 times convicted felon Trump of illegally holding onto highly confidential state secrets after leaving office and thwarting repeated attempts by the government to retrieve them. Despite the dismissal, an appeal from Smith’s team is almost inevitable. Judge Cannon’s dismissal was based on her interpretation that no federal statute governs the appointment of special counsels like Smith, a practice that has been in place for nearly 30 years. She argued that allowing special counsels to operate under the attorney general’s authority violates the Constitution’s separation of powers. The ruling follows closely on the heels of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s recent concurrence in a landmark case granting Trump broad immunity from criminal prosecution. Justice Thomas, himself an ardent Trump supporter, raised questions about the constitutionality of Smith’s appointment, even though this issue was not considered in the case and had never been previously addressed. Judge Cannon’s decision removes a significant legal obstacle for Trump as he campaigns for a return to the White House despite being found responsible for sexually assaulting a woman, committing massive business fraud in New York, and for inciting the deadly January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. “Smith will appeal,” Washington Informer and Let It Be Known Contributor Austin Cooper added. “The 11th Circuit will overturn [the decision,” and it will end up in the Supreme Court which means the case is officially dead.”
