Former President Trump was indicted Tuesday, marking the third time this year that he is facing criminal charges even as he pursues another term in the White House.
A grand jury in Washington, D.C., handed up an indictment against Trump. In the 45-page document, prosecutors laid out in detail how Trump was determined to remain in power after losing the 2020 election.
Here are the four counts Trump faces.
Conspiracy to defraud the United States
The first count relates broadly to Trump’s efforts to undermine trust in the U.S. elections system by making repeated false claims that the outcome was fraudulent.
The indictment alleges that Trump engaged in a “conspiracy to defraud the United States by using dishonesty, fraud, and deceit to impair, obstruct, and defeat the lawful federal government function by which the results of the presidential election are collected, counted and certified by the federal government.”
In the opening paragraphs of the indictment, prosecutors allege that Trump “spread lies that there had been outcome-determinative fraud in the election and that he had actually won.”
“These claims were false, and the Defendant knew that they were false,” prosecutors wrote. “But the Defendant repeated and widely disseminated them anyway—to make his knowingly false claims appear legitimate, create an intense national atmosphere of mistrust and anger, and erode public faith in the administration of the election.”
Conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; Obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding
The second and third counts pertain to Trump’s actions and attempts to obstruct the Jan. 6, 2021, convening of Congress to certify the 2020 election results, according to the indictment.
The document alleges Trump perpetrated “a conspiracy to corruptly obstruct and impede the January 6 congressional proceeding at which the collected results of the presidential election are counted and certified.”
The indictment quotes extensively from Trump’s rhetoric in the days leading up to Jan. 6. In one instance, it cites a remark Trump made to aides on the eve of the Jan. 6 rally that he expected the crowds that day would be “angry.”
It also cites his remarks during a speech near the White House on Jan. 6 in which Trump repeated false claims about the election and led supporters to believe that then-Vice President Mike Pence could overturn the results.
“The Defendant repeated false claims of election fraud, gave false hope that the Vice President might change the election outcome, and directed the crowd in front of him to go to the Capitol as a means to obstruct the certification and pressure the Vice President to fraudulently obstruct the certification.”
Conspiracy against rights
The fourth and final count laid out in the indictment refers to the allegation that Trump engaged in a “conspiracy against the right to vote and to have one’s vote counted.”
The indictment alleges that Trump “did knowingly combine, conspire, confederate, and agree with co-conspirators, known and unknown to the Grand Jury, to injure, oppress, threaten, and intimidate one or more persons in the free exercise and enjoyment of a right and privilege and secured to them by the Constitution and laws of the United States—that is, the right to vote, and to have one’s vote counted.”
Trump is due to appear in court Thursday in the case.
